I have a class that performs analyses and attaches the results, which are pandas dataframes, as object attributes:
>>> print(test.image.locate_DF)
After a long and painful process of cross-checking module versions, I found out that this error was caused due to an update in the pandas version. My mac still ran pandas 1.0.5, whereas the hpc runs pandas 1.1.0. Apparently, there is a mismatch between the two (unsure whether it's just after pickling or also for other file formats used to save).