Proposed experiments to validate our hypothesis include: (1) gel mobility shift and co-immunoprecipitation assays to identify FMRP/SARS-Cov-2 RNA interactions, (2) in vitro translation assays to quantitate viral and cellular protein synthesis levels in the presence and absence of FMRP and mGluR5 inhibitors, (3) in vitro assays in SARS-CoV-2 RNA-infected cells that under- and over-express FMRP to assess protein synthesis levels and virus production with/without mGluR5 inhibitors, and (4) in vivo testing of disease outcomes in a COVID-19 animal model in response to mGluR5 inhibitors. The gene discussed is FMR1; the disease is COVID-19.