Markus Hoffmann and Stefan Pöhlmann, virologists at the German Primate Center, have been named ‘Highly Cited Researchers’ in 2024 by the ‘Web of Science’ platform. This means that scientists around the world refer to the work of the two virologists particularly frequently. Hoffmann and Pöhlmann work on coronaviruses and have contributed significantly to the understanding of SARS-CoV-2 infection and its inhibition. They have explained how the virus enters cells and how its entry can be inhibited. They have also discovered that the virus forms variants that evade the antibody response. Both scientists were honored in the ‘Molecular Biology and Genetics’ category.