diff --git a/lightmotif/src/pli/platform/avx2.rs b/lightmotif/src/pli/platform/avx2.rs
index 4baa3d89fb13f1d18793226043386456d6b57136..7fddb079cf81dceec27846ddebe3425564b1848a 100644
--- a/lightmotif/src/pli/platform/avx2.rs
+++ b/lightmotif/src/pli/platform/avx2.rs
@@ -151,7 +151,7 @@ unsafe fn score_avx2_permute<A>(
             let x3 = _mm256_shuffle_epi8(x, m3);
             let x4 = _mm256_shuffle_epi8(x, m4);
             // load row for current weight matrix position
-            let t = _mm256_load_ps(pssmptr);
+            let t = _mm256_loadu_ps(pssmptr);
             // index A/T/G/C/N lookup table with the bases
             let b1 = _mm256_permutevar8x32_ps(t, x1);
             let b2 = _mm256_permutevar8x32_ps(t, x2);
diff --git a/lightmotif/src/pwm.rs b/lightmotif/src/pwm.rs
index a56cabb7d1fbf68fe956be36977c8bdec1512c8b..b1f6fc1f6f33e4627929f1c56bfabda97336cb8d 100644
--- a/lightmotif/src/pwm.rs
+++ b/lightmotif/src/pwm.rs
@@ -93,6 +93,12 @@ impl<A: Alphabet> CountMatrix<A> {
         // }
     }
 
+    /// The length of the motif encoded in this count matrix.
+    #[inline]
+    pub const fn len(&self) -> usize {
+        self.data.rows()
+    }
+
     /// Create a new count matrix from the given sequences.
     ///
     /// # Errors
@@ -233,6 +239,12 @@ impl<A: Alphabet> FrequencyMatrix<A> {
         }
     }
 
+    /// The length of the motif encoded in this frequency matrix.
+    #[inline]
+    pub const fn len(&self) -> usize {
+        self.data.rows()
+    }
+
     /// Create a new frequency matrix.
     ///
     /// The matrix must contain frequency data, i.e. rows should all sum to 1
@@ -331,7 +343,7 @@ impl<A: Alphabet> WeightMatrix<A> {
 
     /// The length of the motif encoded in this weight matrix.
     #[inline]
-    pub fn len(&self) -> usize {
+    pub const fn len(&self) -> usize {
         self.data.rows()
     }
 
@@ -445,7 +457,7 @@ impl<A: Alphabet> ScoringMatrix<A> {
 
     /// The length of the motif encoded in this scoring matrix.
     #[inline]
-    pub fn len(&self) -> usize {
+    pub const fn len(&self) -> usize {
         self.data.rows()
     }