diff --git a/pephub/_version.py b/pephub/_version.py
index 07c3e7b8..66a62a27 100644
--- a/pephub/_version.py
+++ b/pephub/_version.py
@@ -1 +1 @@
-__version__ = "0.15.6"
+__version__ = "0.15.7"
diff --git a/pephub/const.py b/pephub/const.py
index 53fd674f..739fdbba 100644
--- a/pephub/const.py
+++ b/pephub/const.py
@@ -65,7 +65,7 @@
 # figure 4
 # great speed to accuracy tradeoff
 DENSE_ENCODER_MODEL = "sentence-transformers/all-MiniLM-L6-v2"
-SPARSE_ENCODER_MODEL = "naver/splade-v3"
+SPARSE_ENCODER_MODEL = "prithivida/Splade_PP_en_v2"
 
 EIDO_TEMPLATES_DIRNAME = "templates/eido"
 EIDO_TEMPLATES_PATH = os.path.join(
diff --git a/pephub/dependencies.py b/pephub/dependencies.py
index 7b2644ba..31f104b4 100644
--- a/pephub/dependencies.py
+++ b/pephub/dependencies.py
@@ -107,14 +107,16 @@ def jwt_encode_user_data(user_data: dict, exp: datetime = None) -> str:
 )
 # embedding_model = None
 
-token = os.environ.get("HF_TOKEN", None)
+# token = os.environ.get("HF_TOKEN", None)
+# hf_model_sparse = os.environ.get("HF_MODEL_SPARSE", SPARSE_ENCODER_MODEL)
+# if token is None:
+#     sparse_model = None
+#     _LOGGER_PEPHUB.warning("No HF_TOKEN provided, sparse model disabled.")
+# else:
+
 hf_model_sparse = os.environ.get("HF_MODEL_SPARSE", SPARSE_ENCODER_MODEL)
-if token is None:
-    sparse_model = None
-    _LOGGER_PEPHUB.warning("No HF_TOKEN provided, sparce model disabled.")
-else:
-    sparse_model = SparseEncoder(hf_model_sparse, token=token)
-    _LOGGER_PEPHUB.info(f"Sparce model in use: {hf_model_sparse}")
+sparse_model = SparseEncoder(hf_model_sparse)
+_LOGGER_PEPHUB.info(f"Sparse model in use: {hf_model_sparse}")
 
 
 ## Qdrant connection
@@ -403,7 +405,7 @@ def get_sentence_transformer() -> Embedding:
 
 def get_sparse_model() -> Union[SparseEncoder, None]:
     """
-    Return sparce encoder model
+    Return sparse encoder model
     """
     return sparse_model
 
diff --git a/pephub/routers/api/v1/search.py b/pephub/routers/api/v1/search.py
index f1e672d9..d5c3618d 100644
--- a/pephub/routers/api/v1/search.py
+++ b/pephub/routers/api/v1/search.py
@@ -54,7 +54,7 @@ async def search_for_pep(
     query: SearchQuery,
     qdrant: QdrantClient = Depends(get_qdrant),
     model: Embedding = Depends(get_sentence_transformer),
-    model_sparce: SparseEncoder = Depends(get_sparse_model),
+    model_sparse: SparseEncoder = Depends(get_sparse_model),
     agent: PEPDatabaseAgent = Depends(get_db),
     namespace_access: List[str] = Depends(get_namespace_access_list),
 ) -> SearchReturnModel:
@@ -74,8 +74,8 @@ async def search_for_pep(
     if qdrant is not None:
         dense_query = list(list(model.embed(query.query))[0])
 
-        if model_sparce:
-            sparse_result = model_sparce.encode(query.query).coalesce()
+        if model_sparse:
+            sparse_result = model_sparse.encode(query.query).coalesce()
             sparse_embeddings = SparseVector(
                 indices=sparse_result.indices().tolist()[0],
                 values=sparse_result.values().tolist(),