diff --git a/src/data_processors/process_dataset/script.py b/src/data_processors/process_dataset/script.py
index de91da88..dde37f4a 100644
--- a/src/data_processors/process_dataset/script.py
+++ b/src/data_processors/process_dataset/script.py
@@ -181,6 +181,7 @@ def subsample_adata_group_balanced(adata, group_key, n_samples, seed=0):
     adata = adata[subsample_adata_group_balanced(adata, "cell_type", N_MAX_SC, seed=0)]
 
 # Make the single-cell data gene names unique
+adata.var_names = adata.var_names.astype(str)
 adata.var_names_make_unique()
 
 # Subset single-cell and spatial data to shared genes