diff --git a/src/db/db/dbCIF.cc b/src/db/db/dbCIF.cc
index 6935724c4..9026f6992 100644
--- a/src/db/db/dbCIF.cc
+++ b/src/db/db/dbCIF.cc
@@ -56,6 +56,14 @@ public:
   virtual std::string format_title () const { return "CIF (Caltech interchange format)"; }
   virtual std::string file_format () const { return "CIF files (*.CIF *.cif *.cif.gz *.CIF.gz)"; }
 
+  static tl::Extractor &skip_blanks (tl::Extractor &ex)
+  {
+    while (! ex.at_end () && *ex != ';' && *ex != '-' && *ex != '(' && *ex != ')' && !isalnum(*ex)) {
+      ++ex;
+    }
+    return ex;
+  }
+
   virtual bool detect (tl::InputStream &s) const 
   {
     try {
@@ -67,11 +75,12 @@ public:
       int n = 0;
 
       tl::Extractor ex (head.c_str ());
-      while (! ex.at_end ()) {
+      while (! skip_blanks (ex).at_end ()) {
 
-        if (ex.test ("(")) {
+        if (*ex == '(') {
 
           //  read over comments
+          ++ex;
           int bl = 0;
           while (! ex.at_end () && (*ex != ')' || bl > 0)) {
             //  check for nested comments (bl is the nesting level)
@@ -86,18 +95,36 @@ public:
             ++ex;
           }
 
-        } else if (ex.test (";")) {
+        } else if (*ex == ';') {
 
           //  ignore ;
+          ++ex;
 
-        } else if ((ex.test ("DS ") && ex.try_read (n)) || ex.test ("L ")) {
+        } else if (*ex == 'L') {
 
-          //  first command must be "DS num", "L"
-          return true;
+          //  first command must be "DS num", or "L shortname"
+          ++ex;
+          skip_blanks (ex);
+          return ! ex.at_end () && isalnum (*ex);
 
-        } else if (ex.test ("9")) {
+        } else if (*ex == 'D') {
+
+          //  first command must be "DS num", or "L"
+          ++ex;
+          skip_blanks (ex);
+          if (ex.at_end () || *ex != 'S') {
+            break;   // not "D<sep>S"
+          }
+          ++ex;
+          skip_blanks (ex);
+          if (ex.try_read (n)) {
+            return true;
+          }
+
+        } else if (*ex == '9') {
 
           //  read over 9...; commands
+          ++ex;
           while (! ex.at_end () && *ex != ';') {
             ++ex;
           }
diff --git a/src/db/unit_tests/dbCIFReader.cc b/src/db/unit_tests/dbCIFReader.cc
index 65b7de45e..9586a817a 100644
--- a/src/db/unit_tests/dbCIFReader.cc
+++ b/src/db/unit_tests/dbCIFReader.cc
@@ -31,7 +31,7 @@
 #include <QDir>
 #include <stdlib.h>
 
-static void run_test (tl::TestBase *_this, const char *file, const char *file_au, const char *map = 0, double dbu = 0.001, bool dummy_calls = false, bool blank_sep = false)
+static void run_test (tl::TestBase *_this, const std::string &base, const char *file, const char *file_au, const char *map = 0, double dbu = 0.001, bool dummy_calls = false, bool blank_sep = false)
 {
   db::CIFReaderOptions *opt = new db::CIFReaderOptions();
   opt->dbu = dbu;
@@ -60,7 +60,7 @@ static void run_test (tl::TestBase *_this, const char *file, const char *file_au
   db::Layout layout (&m), layout2 (&m), layout2_cif (&m), layout_au (&m);
 
   {
-    std::string fn (tl::testsrc_private ());
+    std::string fn (base);
     fn += "/testdata/cif/";
     fn += file;
     tl::InputStream stream (fn);
@@ -120,7 +120,7 @@ static void run_test (tl::TestBase *_this, const char *file, const char *file_au
   }
 
   {
-    std::string fn (tl::testsrc_private ());
+    std::string fn (base);
     fn += "/testdata/cif/";
     fn += file_au;
     tl::InputStream stream (fn);
@@ -141,46 +141,52 @@ static void run_test (tl::TestBase *_this, const char *file, const char *file_au
 
 TEST(1a)
 {
-  run_test (_this, "t1.cif.gz", "t1a_au.gds.gz");
+  run_test (_this, tl::testsrc_private (), "t1.cif.gz", "t1a_au.gds.gz");
 }
 
 TEST(1b)
 {
-  run_test (_this, "t1.cif.gz", "t1b_au.gds.gz", 0, 0.01);
+  run_test (_this, tl::testsrc_private (), "t1.cif.gz", "t1b_au.gds.gz", 0, 0.01);
 }
 
 TEST(1c)
 {
-  run_test (_this, "t1.cif.gz", "t1b_au.gds.gz", 0, 0.01, true);
+  run_test (_this, tl::testsrc_private (), "t1.cif.gz", "t1b_au.gds.gz", 0, 0.01, true);
 }
 
 TEST(1d)
 {
-  run_test (_this, "t1.cif.gz", "t1b_au.gds.gz", 0, 0.01, false, true);
+  run_test (_this, tl::testsrc_private (), "t1.cif.gz", "t1b_au.gds.gz", 0, 0.01, false, true);
 }
 
 TEST(2)
 {
-  run_test (_this, "t2.cif.gz", "t2_au.gds.gz");
+  run_test (_this, tl::testsrc_private (), "t2.cif.gz", "t2_au.gds.gz");
 }
 
 TEST(3a)
 {
-  run_test (_this, "t3.cif.gz", "t3a_au.gds.gz", "CAA:43,CCA:48,CCP:47,CMF:49,CMS:51,CPG:46,CSN:45,CSP:44,CVA:50,CWN:42,XP:26");
+  run_test (_this, tl::testsrc_private (), "t3.cif.gz", "t3a_au.gds.gz", "CAA:43,CCA:48,CCP:47,CMF:49,CMS:51,CPG:46,CSN:45,CSP:44,CVA:50,CWN:42,XP:26");
 }
 
 TEST(3b)
 {
-  run_test (_this, "t3.cif.gz", "t3b_au.gds.gz", "CAA:43,CCA:48,CCP:47,CMF:49,CMS:51,CPG:46,CSN:45,CSP:44,CVA:50,CWN:42,XP:26", 0.00012);
+  run_test (_this, tl::testsrc_private (), "t3.cif.gz", "t3b_au.gds.gz", "CAA:43,CCA:48,CCP:47,CMF:49,CMS:51,CPG:46,CSN:45,CSP:44,CVA:50,CWN:42,XP:26", 0.00012);
 }
 
 TEST(4)
 {
-  run_test (_this, "t4.cif.gz", "t4_au.gds.gz");
+  run_test (_this, tl::testsrc_private (), "t4.cif.gz", "t4_au.gds.gz");
 }
 
 TEST(5)
 {
-  run_test (_this, "t5.cif.gz", "t5_au.gds.gz");
+  run_test (_this, tl::testsrc_private (), "t5.cif.gz", "t5_au.gds.gz");
+}
+
+//  Issue #28
+TEST(lasi)
+{
+  run_test (_this, tl::testsrc (), "lasi.cif.gz", "lasi_au.gds.gz");
 }
 
diff --git a/testdata/cif/lasi.cif.gz b/testdata/cif/lasi.cif.gz
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..a9a4ffb74
Binary files /dev/null and b/testdata/cif/lasi.cif.gz differ
diff --git a/testdata/cif/lasi.gds.gz b/testdata/cif/lasi.gds.gz
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..d59f20c40
Binary files /dev/null and b/testdata/cif/lasi.gds.gz differ