diff --git a/DESCRIPTION b/DESCRIPTION
index abe0c9a..95569d5 100644
--- a/DESCRIPTION
+++ b/DESCRIPTION
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 Package: imcRtools
-Version: 1.7.6
+Version: 1.7.7
 Title: Methods for imaging mass cytometry data analysis
 Description: 
     This R package supports the handling and analysis of imaging mass cytometry 
diff --git a/NEWS b/NEWS
index 8b71d86..598c70e 100644
--- a/NEWS
+++ b/NEWS
@@ -205,3 +205,7 @@ Changes in version 1.7.6 (2023-09-26)
 
 + Updated example data in "inst" to newest version
 
+Changes in version 1.7.7 (2023-10-02)
+
++ Bug fix: in rare cases the testInteractions p-values were not correctly computed due to machine precision issues
+
diff --git a/R/testInteractions.R b/R/testInteractions.R
index 4601a63..d0647b7 100644
--- a/R/testInteractions.R
+++ b/R/testInteractions.R
@@ -26,6 +26,9 @@
 #' enriched or depleted per group.
 #' @param return_samples single logical indicating if the permuted interaction
 #' counts of all iterations should be returned.
+#' @param tolerance single numeric larger than 0. This parameter defines the
+#' difference between the permuted count and the actual counts at which both
+#' are regarded as equal. Default taken from \code{all.equal}.
 #' @param BPPARAM parameters for parallelized processing. 
 #'
 #' @section Counting and summarizing cell-cell interactions:
@@ -161,13 +164,15 @@ testInteractions <- function(object,
                                 iter = 1000,
                                 p_threshold = 0.01,
                                 return_samples = FALSE,
+                                tolerance = sqrt(.Machine$double.eps),
                                 BPPARAM = SerialParam()){
 
     # Input check
     method <- match.arg(method)
     .valid.countInteractions.input(object, group_by, label, method,
                                         patch_size, colPairName)
-    .valid.testInteractions.input(iter, p_threshold, return_samples)
+    .valid.testInteractions.input(iter, p_threshold, return_samples, 
+                                  tolerance)
     
     # Re-level group_by label
     if(is.factor(colData(object)[[group_by]])) {
@@ -197,7 +202,8 @@ testInteractions <- function(object,
     
     cur_out <- .calc_p_vals(cur_count, cur_out, n_perm = iter, 
                             p_thres = p_threshold, 
-                            return_samples = return_samples)
+                            return_samples = return_samples,
+                            tolerance = tolerance)
     
     setorder(cur_out, "group_by", "from_label", "to_label")
     
diff --git a/R/utils.R b/R/utils.R
index b21a85d..a01aca8 100644
--- a/R/utils.R
+++ b/R/utils.R
@@ -746,9 +746,9 @@
                                                   "to_label")]
 
     if (check_missing) {
-        dat_temp <- dat_temp[CJ(group_by = unique(dat_temp$group_by),
-                                from_label = as.factor(levels(dat_temp$from_label)),
-                                to_label = as.factor(levels(dat_temp$to_label))),
+        dat_temp <- dat_temp[CJ(group_by = unique(dat_table$group_by),
+                                from_label = as.factor(levels(dat_table$from_label)),
+                                to_label = as.factor(levels(dat_table$to_label))),
                              on = c("group_by", "from_label", "to_label")]
         ct <- from_label <- to_label <- NULL
         dat_temp[is.na(dat_temp$ct), ct := 0]
@@ -918,7 +918,8 @@
     return(cur_out)
 }
 
-.calc_p_vals<- function(dat_baseline, dat_perm, n_perm, p_thres, return_samples){
+.calc_p_vals<- function(dat_baseline, dat_perm, n_perm, p_thres, return_samples, 
+                        tolerance){
     dat_perm <- merge(dat_perm,
                       dat_baseline[, c("from_label", "to_label",
                                        "group_by", "ct")],
@@ -931,10 +932,12 @@
     dat_perm[, ':='(ct_perm = replace(ct_perm, is.na(ct_perm), 0),
                     ct_obs = replace(ct_obs, is.na(ct_obs), 0))]
 
+    # We introduced a more lenient way of checking equality to avoid issues
+    # with machine precision
     dat_stat <- dat_perm[ , .(ct = mean(ct_obs),
                               p_gt = ifelse(max(ct_obs) == 0, 1,
-                                            (sum(ct_perm >= ct_obs) + 1) / (n_perm + 1)),
-                              p_lt = (n_perm - sum(ct_perm > ct_obs) + 1) / (n_perm + 1)),
+                                            (sum((ct_perm - ct_obs) > -tolerance) + 1) / (n_perm + 1)),
+                              p_lt = (n_perm - sum((ct_perm - ct_obs) > tolerance) + 1) / (n_perm + 1)),
                           by=c("group_by", "from_label", "to_label")]
 
     dat_stat[, interaction := p_gt < p_lt]
diff --git a/R/validityChecks.R b/R/validityChecks.R
index c679d2b..7222fb6 100644
--- a/R/validityChecks.R
+++ b/R/validityChecks.R
@@ -959,7 +959,8 @@
     }
 }
 
-.valid.testInteractions.input <- function(iter, p_threshold, return_samples){
+.valid.testInteractions.input <- function(iter, p_threshold, return_samples,
+                                          tolerance){
     if (length(iter) != 1 | !is.numeric(iter)) {
         stop("'iter' must be a single positive numeric.")
     }
@@ -979,6 +980,14 @@
     if (length(return_samples) != 1 | !is.logical(return_samples)) {
         stop("'return_samples' must be a single logical.")
     }
+    
+    if (length(tolerance) != 1 | !is.numeric(tolerance)) {
+        stop("'tolerance' must be a single numeric.")
+    }
+    
+    if (tolerance < 0) {
+        stop("'tolerance' must be larger than 0.")
+    }
 }
 
 .valid.findBorderCells.input <- function(object, img_id, border_dist, coords){
diff --git a/man/testInteractions.Rd b/man/testInteractions.Rd
index 28eea53..91a710e 100644
--- a/man/testInteractions.Rd
+++ b/man/testInteractions.Rd
@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@ testInteractions(
   iter = 1000,
   p_threshold = 0.01,
   return_samples = FALSE,
+  tolerance = sqrt(.Machine$double.eps),
   BPPARAM = SerialParam()
 )
 }
@@ -48,6 +49,10 @@ enriched or depleted per group.}
 \item{return_samples}{single logical indicating if the permuted interaction
 counts of all iterations should be returned.}
 
+\item{tolerance}{single numeric larger than 0. This parameter defines the
+difference between the permuted count and the actual counts at which both
+are regarded as equal. Default taken from \code{all.equal}.}
+
 \item{BPPARAM}{parameters for parallelized processing.}
 }
 \value{