diff --git a/ci/tests/test_hyena_dna/test_model.py b/ci/tests/test_hyena_dna/test_model.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..248d44ed
--- /dev/null
+++ b/ci/tests/test_hyena_dna/test_model.py
@@ -0,0 +1,39 @@
+from helical.models.hyena_dna.model import HyenaDNA,HyenaDNAConfig
+import pytest
+import pytest
+
+@pytest.mark.parametrize("model_name, d_model, d_inner", [
+    ("hyenadna-tiny-1k-seqlen", 128, 512),
+    ("hyenadna-tiny-1k-seqlen-d256", 256, 1024)
+])
+def test_hyena_dna__ok(model_name, d_model, d_inner):
+    """
+    Test case for the HyenaDNA class initialization.
+
+    Args:
+        model_name (str): The name of the model.
+        d_model (int): The dimensionality of the model.
+        d_inner (int): The dimensionality of the inner layers.
+    """
+    configurer = HyenaDNAConfig(model_name=model_name)
+    model = HyenaDNA(configurer=configurer)
+    assert model.config["model_name"] == model_name
+    assert model.config["d_model"] == d_model
+    assert model.config["d_inner"] == d_inner
+
+@pytest.mark.parametrize("model_name", [
+    ("wrong_name")
+])
+def test_hyena_dna__nok(model_name):
+    """
+    Test case when an invalid model name is provided.
+    Verifies that a ValueError is raised when an invalid model name is passed to the HyenaDNAConfig constructor.
+
+    Parameters:
+    - model_name (str): The invalid model name.
+
+    Raises:
+    - ValueError: If the model name is invalid.
+    """
+    with pytest.raises(ValueError):
+        HyenaDNAConfig(model_name=model_name)
diff --git a/helical/models/hyena_dna/model.py b/helical/models/hyena_dna/model.py
index 1bb0de1a..7fbee700 100644
--- a/helical/models/hyena_dna/model.py
+++ b/helical/models/hyena_dna/model.py
@@ -13,20 +13,20 @@
 
 class HyenaDNA(HelicalBaseModel):
     """HyenaDNA model."""
-    default_config = HyenaDNAConfig()
+    default_configurer = HyenaDNAConfig()
 
-    def __init__(self, model_dir: Optional[str] = None, model_config: HyenaDNAConfig = default_config) -> None:    
+    def __init__(self, model_dir: Optional[str] = None, configurer: HyenaDNAConfig = default_configurer) -> None:    
         super().__init__()
-        self.model_config = model_config.config
+        self.config = configurer.config
         self.log = logging.getLogger("Hyena-DNA-Model")
         
         if model_dir is None: 
             self.downloader = Downloader()
-            model_path = f"hyena_dna/{self.model_config['model_name']}.ckpt"
+            model_path = f"hyena_dna/{self.config['model_name']}.ckpt"
             self.downloader.download_via_name(model_path)
             self.model_path = Path(os.path.join(self.downloader.CACHE_DIR_HELICAL, model_path))
         else:
-            self.model_path = Path(os.path.join(model_dir, f"{self.model_config['model_name']}.ckpt"))
+            self.model_path = Path(os.path.join(model_dir, f"{self.config['model_name']}.ckpt"))