diff --git a/pom.xml b/pom.xml
index be2aabfb..3f3b66ae 100644
--- a/pom.xml
+++ b/pom.xml
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@
 	<name>baseCode</name>
 	<groupId>baseCode</groupId>
 	<artifactId>baseCode</artifactId>
-	<version>1.1</version>
+	<version>1.1.1</version>
 	<inceptionYear>2003</inceptionYear>
 	<description>
 		<![CDATA[Data structures, math and statistics tools, and utilities that are often needed across projects.]]>
diff --git a/src/ubic/basecode/ontology/model/OntologyTermImpl.java b/src/ubic/basecode/ontology/model/OntologyTermImpl.java
index 129e4a02..0d5186a1 100644
--- a/src/ubic/basecode/ontology/model/OntologyTermImpl.java
+++ b/src/ubic/basecode/ontology/model/OntologyTermImpl.java
@@ -385,8 +385,9 @@ private void getChildren( boolean direct, Collection<OntologyTerm> work ) {
         ExtendedIterator<OntClass> iterator = ontResource.listSubClasses( true );
         while ( iterator.hasNext() ) {
             OntClass c = iterator.next();
+            // URI can be null if the ont is a bnode (no idea what it is, but we have to handle this)
             // some reasoners will infer owl#Nothing as a subclass of everything
-            if ( c.getURI().equals( NOTHING ) ) continue;
+            if ( c.getURI() == null || c.getURI().equals( NOTHING ) ) continue;
 
             if ( USE_PROPER_PART_RESTRICTIONS && c.isRestriction() ) {