diff --git a/js/lattice/LatticeBase.js b/js/lattice/LatticeBase.js
index 378cdcbaba6cfefb423511a2896c5949a1245a14..11f27ccd123eb72a377f6017f8e248f1bf8a4321 100644
--- a/js/lattice/LatticeBase.js
+++ b/js/lattice/LatticeBase.js
@@ -47,7 +47,7 @@ define(['underscore', 'backbone', 'appState', 'globals', 'plist', 'three', 'thre
 
         _reloadCells: function(cells, subclass){
 
-            if (this.get("connectionType") == "gik" || this.previous("connectionType") == "gik") this.clearCells();
+            if ((this.get("connectionType") == "gik" || this.previous("connectionType") == "gik") && !cells) this.clearCells();
 
             if (!cells) cells = JSON.parse(JSON.stringify(this.sparseCells));