diff --git a/gemma-core/src/main/java/ubic/gemma/core/loader/genome/gene/ncbi/NcbiGeneConverter.java b/gemma-core/src/main/java/ubic/gemma/core/loader/genome/gene/ncbi/NcbiGeneConverter.java
index 111964de09..be61d9dbcc 100644
--- a/gemma-core/src/main/java/ubic/gemma/core/loader/genome/gene/ncbi/NcbiGeneConverter.java
+++ b/gemma-core/src/main/java/ubic/gemma/core/loader/genome/gene/ncbi/NcbiGeneConverter.java
@@ -109,6 +109,7 @@ public Gene convert( NCBIGeneInfo info ) {
         gene.setOfficialSymbol( info.getDefaultSymbol() );
         gene.setOfficialName( info.getDescription() );
         gene.setEnsemblId( info.getEnsemblId() );
+        gene.setType(info.getGeneType().toString());
 
         /*
          * NOTE we allow multiple discontinued or previous ids, separated by commas. This is a hack to account for cases
diff --git a/gemma-core/src/main/java/ubic/gemma/model/genome/Gene.java b/gemma-core/src/main/java/ubic/gemma/model/genome/Gene.java
index 17f8e0153b..2e40a862c1 100644
--- a/gemma-core/src/main/java/ubic/gemma/model/genome/Gene.java
+++ b/gemma-core/src/main/java/ubic/gemma/model/genome/Gene.java
@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@
  */
 package ubic.gemma.model.genome;
 
+import ubic.gemma.core.loader.genome.gene.ncbi.model.NCBIGeneInfo;
 import ubic.gemma.model.association.phenotype.PhenotypeAssociation;
 import ubic.gemma.model.common.description.DatabaseEntry;
 import ubic.gemma.model.genome.gene.GeneAlias;
@@ -47,6 +48,7 @@ public class Gene extends ChromosomeFeature {
     private Set<DatabaseEntry> accessions = new HashSet<>();
     private Multifunctionality multifunctionality;
     private Set<PhenotypeAssociation> phenotypeAssociations = new HashSet<>();
+    private NCBIGeneInfo.GeneType type;
 
     /**
      * No-arg constructor added to satisfy javabean contract
@@ -54,6 +56,14 @@ public class Gene extends ChromosomeFeature {
     public Gene() {
     }
 
+    public String getType() {
+        return type.toString();
+    }
+
+    public void setType( String type ) {
+        this.type = NCBIGeneInfo.typeStringToGeneType( type );
+    }
+
     @Override
     public boolean equals( Object object ) {
         if ( this == object ) {
diff --git a/gemma-core/src/main/resources/ubic/gemma/model/genome/ChromosomeFeature.hbm.xml b/gemma-core/src/main/resources/ubic/gemma/model/genome/ChromosomeFeature.hbm.xml
index 0ce5c63354..000117a270 100644
--- a/gemma-core/src/main/resources/ubic/gemma/model/genome/ChromosomeFeature.hbm.xml
+++ b/gemma-core/src/main/resources/ubic/gemma/model/genome/ChromosomeFeature.hbm.xml
@@ -64,6 +64,10 @@
                 <column name="ENSEMBL_ID" not-null="false" unique="false"
                         sql-type="VARCHAR(255)"/>
             </property>
+            <property name="type" type="java.lang.String">
+                <column name="TYPE" not-null="false" unique="false"
+                        sql-type="VARCHAR(255)"/>
+            </property>
             <set name="products" lazy="true" fetch="select" inverse="true" cascade="all">
                 <cache usage="read-write"/>
                 <key foreign-key="GENE_PRODUCT_GENE_FKC">
diff --git a/gemma-core/src/test/java/ubic/gemma/core/loader/genome/gene/ncbi/NCBIGeneParserTest.java b/gemma-core/src/test/java/ubic/gemma/core/loader/genome/gene/ncbi/NCBIGeneParserTest.java
index e478dcbacc..7d81d5c250 100644
--- a/gemma-core/src/test/java/ubic/gemma/core/loader/genome/gene/ncbi/NCBIGeneParserTest.java
+++ b/gemma-core/src/test/java/ubic/gemma/core/loader/genome/gene/ncbi/NCBIGeneParserTest.java
@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@
 
 import junit.framework.TestCase;
 import org.springframework.core.io.ClassPathResource;
+import ubic.gemma.core.loader.genome.gene.ncbi.model.NCBIGeneInfo;
 
 import java.io.InputStream;
 import java.util.HashMap;
@@ -45,6 +46,8 @@ public void testParseGeneInfo() throws Exception {
         ncbiGeneInfoParser.setFilter( false );
         ncbiGeneInfoParser.parse( is );
         TestCase.assertEquals( 99, ncbiGeneInfoParser.getResults().size() );
+        NCBIGeneInfo n = ncbiGeneInfoParser.getResults().iterator().next();
+        assertNotNull( n.getGeneType() );
     }
 
 }