The Georges, Jacques and Elias Canetti Prize is celebrating its 15th anniversary this year. The winner of this 2020 edition is Mélanie Hamon, a scientist and Head of the Chromatin and Infection team at the Institut Pasteur in Paris. Her research on the epigenetic modifications induced during bacterial infections particularly focuses on the Streptococcus pneumoniae bacterium, which causes severe respiratory infections, especially in vulnerable groups such as young children, elderly people and immunosuppressed patients.