diff --git a/server/app/rest_api/rest.py b/server/app/rest_api/rest.py
index d9b10ad9..95dc7e17 100644
--- a/server/app/rest_api/rest.py
+++ b/server/app/rest_api/rest.py
@@ -193,7 +193,6 @@ class CellsAPI(Resource):
     def get(self):
         from app import data
         payload = {
-            "cellids": [],
             "metadata": [],
             "cellcount": 0,
             "graph": [],
@@ -205,8 +204,7 @@ class CellsAPI(Resource):
         payload["metadata"] = data.metadata(filtered_data)
         payload["ranges"] = data.metadata_ranges(filtered_data)
         payload["graph"] = data.create_graph(filtered_data)
-        payload["cellids"] = data.cellids(filtered_data)
-        payload["cellcount"] = len(payload["cellids"])
+        payload["cellcount"] = data.cell_count
         return make_payload(payload)
 
 
diff --git a/server/app/scanpy_engine/scanpy_engine.py b/server/app/scanpy_engine/scanpy_engine.py
index c5e682b9..142f87a7 100644
--- a/server/app/scanpy_engine/scanpy_engine.py
+++ b/server/app/scanpy_engine/scanpy_engine.py
@@ -13,12 +13,15 @@ class ScanpyEngine(CXGDriver):
     def __init__(self, data, schema=None, graph_method="umap", diffexp_method="ttest"):
         self.data = self._load_data(data)
         self.schema = self._load_or_infer_schema(data, schema)
-        self._set_cell_ids()
+        self._set_cell_names()
         self.cell_count = self.data.shape[0]
         self.gene_count = self.data.shape[1]
         self.graph_method = graph_method
         self.diffexp_method = diffexp_method
 
+    def _set_cell_names(self):
+        self.data.obs["cell_name"] = list(self.data.obs.index)
+
     @staticmethod
     def _load_data(data):
         return sc.read(os.path.join(data, "data.h5ad"))
@@ -32,20 +35,9 @@ class ScanpyEngine(CXGDriver):
             data_schema = parse_schema(os.path.join(data, schema))
         return data_schema
 
-    def _set_cell_ids(self):
-        self.data.obs["cxg_cell_id"] = list(range(self.data.obs.shape[0]))
-        self.data.obs["cell_name"] = list(self.data.obs.index)
-        self.data.obs.set_index("cxg_cell_id", inplace=True)
-
     def cells(self):
         return list(self.data.obs.index)
 
-    def cellids(self, df=None):
-        if df:
-            return list(df.obs.index)
-        else:
-            return list(self.data.obs.index)
-
     def genes(self):
         return self.data.var.index.tolist()