diff --git a/NAMESPACE b/NAMESPACE
index f6171c8..9a65951 100644
--- a/NAMESPACE
+++ b/NAMESPACE
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 # Generated by roxygen2: do not edit by hand
 
+S3method(.DollarNames,GInteractions)
 S3method(arrange,GInteractions)
 S3method(as_ginteractions,data.frame)
 S3method(as_ginteractions,default)
@@ -23,6 +24,7 @@ export(strand1)
 export(strand2)
 export(width1)
 export(width2)
+exportMethods("$")
 exportMethods(end1)
 exportMethods(end2)
 exportMethods(seqnames1)
@@ -60,3 +62,4 @@ importFrom(rlang,quo_name)
 importFrom(rlang,quos)
 importFrom(tibble,as_tibble)
 importFrom(tidyselect,eval_select)
+importFrom(utils,.DollarNames)
diff --git a/R/ginteractions-getters.R b/R/ginteractions-getters.R
index 2c7f93a..e2f18b3 100644
--- a/R/ginteractions-getters.R
+++ b/R/ginteractions-getters.R
@@ -2,12 +2,16 @@
 #' 
 #' @name ginteractions-getters
 #' @param x a GInteractions object
+#' @param pattern,name The pattern or name of a column stored in 
+#' the GInteractions metadata (mcols). 
 #' @return One of the core GInteractions fields (e.g. seqnames1, start1, ...)
+#' or one of the metadata columns when using `$`. 
+#' Note that auto-completion works with `$`. 
 #' @examples 
 #' gi <- data.frame(
 #'   seqnames1 = 'chr1', start1 = 1, end1 = 10, 
 #'   seqnames2 = 'chr1', start2 = 1, end2 = 10
-#' ) |> as_ginteractions()
+#' ) |> as_ginteractions() |> mutate(type = 'cis')
 #' seqnames1(gi)
 #' seqnames2(gi)
 #' start1(gi)
@@ -18,8 +22,21 @@
 #' width2(gi)
 #' strand1(gi)
 #' strand2(gi)
+#' gi$type
 NULL
 
+#' @rdname ginteractions-getters
+#' @importFrom utils .DollarNames
+#' @export 
+.DollarNames.GInteractions <- function(x, pattern = "") 
+    grep(pattern, names(mcols(x, use.names = FALSE)), value = TRUE)
+
+#' @rdname ginteractions-getters
+#' @export 
+setMethod("$", "GInteractions",
+    function(x, name) mcols(x, use.names=FALSE)[[name]]
+)
+
 #' @rdname ginteractions-getters
 #' @export
 setGeneric("seqnames1", function(x) standardGeneric("seqnames1"))
diff --git a/man/ginteractions-getters.Rd b/man/ginteractions-getters.Rd
index 7d272b7..adbd734 100644
--- a/man/ginteractions-getters.Rd
+++ b/man/ginteractions-getters.Rd
@@ -2,6 +2,8 @@
 % Please edit documentation in R/ginteractions-getters.R
 \name{ginteractions-getters}
 \alias{ginteractions-getters}
+\alias{.DollarNames.GInteractions}
+\alias{$,GInteractions-method}
 \alias{seqnames1}
 \alias{seqnames2}
 \alias{start1}
@@ -24,6 +26,10 @@
 \alias{strand2,GInteractions-method}
 \title{Internal GInteractions getters}
 \usage{
+\method{.DollarNames}{GInteractions}(x, pattern = "")
+
+\S4method{$}{GInteractions}(x, name)
+
 seqnames1(x)
 
 seqnames2(x)
@@ -66,9 +72,14 @@ strand2(x)
 }
 \arguments{
 \item{x}{a GInteractions object}
+
+\item{pattern, name}{The pattern or name of a column stored in
+the GInteractions metadata (mcols).}
 }
 \value{
 One of the core GInteractions fields (e.g. seqnames1, start1, ...)
+or one of the metadata columns when using \code{$}.
+Note that auto-completion works with \code{$}.
 }
 \description{
 Internal GInteractions getters
@@ -77,7 +88,7 @@ Internal GInteractions getters
 gi <- data.frame(
   seqnames1 = 'chr1', start1 = 1, end1 = 10, 
   seqnames2 = 'chr1', start2 = 1, end2 = 10
-) |> as_ginteractions()
+) |> as_ginteractions() |> mutate(type = 'cis')
 seqnames1(gi)
 seqnames2(gi)
 start1(gi)
@@ -88,4 +99,5 @@ width1(gi)
 width2(gi)
 strand1(gi)
 strand2(gi)
+gi$type
 }