New viruses that jump from animals to humans can cause severe diseases. We study how these viruses interact with host cells and trigger disease, focusing on novel coronaviruses. To protect against new viruses with pandemic potential, we are researching how to disrupt the activation of emerging viruses by host cell enzymes, with the goal of developing new broad-spectrum antiviral drugs. Additionally, we aim to understand why the Herpes B virus, harmless in its natural host, macaques, causes severe disease in humans.
Karin Tilch 
Katharina Diederich 
Recent Publications
- Zhang L, Chen N, Eichmann A, Nehlmeier I, Moldenhauer AS, Stankov MV, Happle C, Dopfer-Jablonka A, Behrens GMN, Hoffmann M, Pöhlmann S.
Epidemiological and virological update on the emerging SARS-CoV-2 variant BA.3.2.
Lancet Infect Dis . 2025 Nov 12:S1473-3099(25)00658-9 - DOI - - Posch W, Prakash E, Erckert SA, Zaderer V, Bellmann-Weiler R, Chokkalingam U, Anuma S, Pöhlmann S, Hoffmann M, Wilflingseder D.
Aloe-derived polysaccharides (APS) mitigate SARS-CoV-2 Omicron BQ1.1 infection by preserving epithelial integrity and reducing viral load in human airway epithelial (HAE) cultures.
Biomed Pharmacother . 2025 Nov:192:118657 - DOI - - Zhang L, Kempf A, Nehlmeier I, Chen N, Graichen L, Moldenhauer AS, Stankov MV, Happle C, Schulz SR, Dopfer-Jablonka A, Jäck HM, Behrens GMN, Pöhlmann S, Hoffmann M.
Host cell entry efficiency and neutralization sensitivity of the SARS-CoV-2 MC.10.1 variant.
Virology. 2025 Nov;612:110675. - DOI - - Stankov MV, Hoffmann M, Happle C, Lürken K, Kempf A, Nehlmeier I, Stölting A, Pöhlmann S, Dopfer-Jablonka A, Behrens GMN.
Humoral Immune Responses in Dialysis Patients After mRNA Omicron JN.1 Vaccination
Kidney Med. 2025 Jul 7;7(9):101067 - DOI - - Basaran R, Budhadev D, Dimitriou E, Wootton HS, Miller GJ, Kempf A, Nehlmeier I, Pöhlmann S, Guo Y, Zhou D.
Polyvalent Mannuronic Acid-Coated Gold Nanoparticles for Probing Multivalent Lectin-Glycan Interaction and Blocking Virus Infection.
Viruses. 2025 Jul 30;17(8):1066. - DOI - - Rocha C, Arora P, Zhang L, Sidarovich A, Graichen L, Moldenhauer AS, Pöhlmann S, Hoffmann M.
Amino acid residues 655 and 969 in the spike protein of Omicron subvariant BA.1 control use of TMPRSS2 versus Cathepsin L dependent entry pathways and cell tropism
PLoS One. 2025 Aug 14;20(8):e0328879 - DOI - - Arora P, Kempf A, Nehlmeier I, Schulz SR, Jäck HM, Hoffmann M, Pöhlmann S.
Entry Efficiency, Protease Dependence, and Antibody-Mediated Neutralization of SARS-CoV-2 Sublineages KP.3.1.1 and XEC.
Vaccines (Basel). 2025 Apr 3;13(4):385. - DOI - - Zhang L, Kempf A, Nehlmeier I, Chen N, Stankov MV, Happle C, Dopfer-Jablonka A, Behrens GMN, Schulz SR, Jäck HM, Pöhlmann S, Hoffmann M.
Host cell entry and neutralisation sensitivity of SARS-CoV-2 BA.3.2.
Lancet Microbe. 2025 Jun 3:101165. - DOI - - Zhang L, Behrens GMN, Kempf A, Nehlmeier I, Gärtner S, Moldenhauer AS, Graichen L, Happle C, Winkler M, Dopfer-Jablonka A, Pöhlmann S, Hoffmann M.
Neutralizing activity against bovine H5N1 HPAIV (clade 2.3.4.4b) in human plasma after seasonal influenza vaccination.
Emerg Microbes Infect. 2025 Dec;14(1):2528539. - DOI - - Elez K, Hempel T, Shrimp JH, Moor N, Raich L, Rocha C, Winter R, Le T, Pöhlmann S, Hoffmann M, Hall MD, Noé F.
Simulations and active learning enable efficient identification of an experimentally-validated broad coronavirus inhibitor.
Nat Commun. 2025 Jul 29;16(1):6949. - DOI - - Stein SC, Ssebyatika G, Benecke T, Ströh L, Rajak MK, Vollmer B, Menz S, Waldmann J-Y, Tipp SN, Ochulor O, Herold E, Schwarzloh B, Mutschall D, Zischke J, Schneider T, Hinrichs I, Blasczyk R, Kleine-Weber H, Hoffmann M, Klein F, Kaiser FK, Gonzalez-Hernandez M, Armando F, Ciurkiewicz M, Beythien G, Pöhlmann S, Baumgärtner W, Gruenewald K, Osterhaus A, Schulz TF, Krey T, Hansen G.
A critical residue in a conserved RBD epitope determines neutralization breadth of pan-sarbecovirus antibodies with recurring YYDRxxG motifs.
mBio. 2025 Jul 31:e0060625. - DOI - - Hanack K, Orzeł U, Schlör A, Mehta S, Krishnan A, Filipek S, Patel R, Joshi M, Hoffmann M, Pöhlmann S, Chaitanya J, Liepmann D, Paulmurugan R, Renugopalakrishnan V
Structural Characterization and AI-Enhanced Modeling of a Broadly Neutralizing Camelid Antibody Against SARS-CoV-2 Variants
Adv. Therap. 2025, e00244 - DOI -