diff --git a/src/hest/HESTData.py b/src/hest/HESTData.py
index cd02e88..9eaa3be 100644
--- a/src/hest/HESTData.py
+++ b/src/hest/HESTData.py
@@ -681,6 +681,10 @@ def read_hest_wsi(wsi: WSI, width, height):
         
         return SpatialData(tables=new_table, images=images, shapes=shapes)
     
+    def ensembleID_to_gene(self):
+        ensembleID_to_gene(self, inplace=True)
+
+    
 class VisiumHESTData(HESTData): 
     def __init__(self, 
         adata: sc.AnnData, # type: ignore
@@ -1239,11 +1243,48 @@ def unify_gene_names(adata: sc.AnnData, species="human", drop=False) -> sc.AnnDa
     
     if drop:
         adata = adata[:, ~remaining]
-    
+ 
     # TODO return dict map of renamed, and remaining
-    
     return adata
 
+def ensembleID_to_gene(st: HESTData, inplace=False, filter_na = False) -> HESTData:
+    """
+    Converts ensemble gene IDs of a HESTData object using Biomart annotations and filter out genes with no matching Ensembl ID
+    
+    Args: 
+        st (HESTData): HESTData object
+        inplace (bool): whenever to perform the changes in placce. Defaults to True.
+        filter_na (bool): whenever to filter genes that are not valid ensemble IDs. Defaults to False.
+    
+    Returns: 
+        HESTData: HESTData object with gene names instead of ensemble gene IDs
+    """
+    import scanpy as sc
+    if not inplace:
+        st = st.copy()
+
+    import scanpy as sc
+    species = st.meta['species']
+    org = "hsapiens" if species == "Homo sapiens" else "mmusculus"
+    
+    annotations = sc.queries.biomart_annotations(org=org,attrs=['ensembl_gene_id', 'external_gene_name'], use_cache=True)
+    ensembl_to_gene_name = dict(zip(annotations['ensembl_gene_id'], annotations['external_gene_name']))
+
+        
+    st.adata.var['gene_name'] = st.adata.var_names.map(ensembl_to_gene_name, na_action=None)
+    
+    if filter_na: 
+        st.adata.var_names = st.adata.var['gene_name'].fillna('')
+    else: 
+        st.adata.var['gene_name'] = st.adata.var['gene_name'].where(st.adata.var['gene_name'].notna(), st.adata.var_names)
+        
+    valid_genes = st.adata.var['gene_name'].notna()
+    st.adata = st.adata[:, valid_genes]
+
+
+    return st
+
+
 def save_spatial_plot(adata: sc.AnnData, save_path: str, name: str='', key='total_counts', pl_kwargs={}):
     """Save the spatial plot from that sc.AnnData
 
diff --git a/src/hest/__init__.py b/src/hest/__init__.py
index 9af7b95..7f32c34 100644
--- a/src/hest/__init__.py
+++ b/src/hest/__init__.py
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@
 from .utils import tiff_save, find_pixel_size_from_spot_coords, write_10X_h5, get_k_genes, SpotPacking
 from .autoalign import autoalign_visium
 from .readers import *
-from .HESTData import HESTData, read_HESTData, load_hest, iter_hest
+from .HESTData import HESTData, read_HESTData, load_hest, iter_hest, ensembleID_to_gene
 from .segmentation.cell_segmenters import segment_cellvit
 
 __all__ = [
@@ -20,5 +20,6 @@
     'autoalign_visium',
     'write_10X_h5',
     'HESTData',
-    'segment_cellvit'
+    'segment_cellvit', 
+    'ensembleID_to_gene'
 ]
diff --git a/tests/hest_tests.py b/tests/hest_tests.py
index 14bb514..12bf79e 100644
--- a/tests/hest_tests.py
+++ b/tests/hest_tests.py
@@ -17,6 +17,7 @@
 
 from hest.autoalign import autoalign_visium
 from hest.readers import VisiumReader
+from hest.HESTData import ensembleID_to_gene
 from hest.utils import load_image
 
 
@@ -131,6 +132,12 @@ def setUpClass(self):
         else:
             self.sts = hest.load_hest('hest_data', id_list)
 
+
+    def test_conversion_ensembleID(self):
+        for idx, st in enumerate(self.sts):
+            with self.subTest(st_object=idx):
+                ensembleID_to_gene(st)
+
         
     def test_tissue_seg(self):
         for idx, st in enumerate(self.sts):