In his memory, the David F. Silbert Summer Fellowship was set up to support short-term research internships for medical, graduate, or other students interested in his area of research. David’s research focused on genetic biochemical and/or biophysical approaches to the study of specific membrane lipids in signal transduction pathways and in the assembly and function of eukaryotic cell membranes. Since his death in 1997, a number of biophysical techniques have been developed that address these issues. These techniques include, but are not limited to state–of-the-art fluorescence methods, structural determination using NMR or x-ray methods and computational approaches. All these

techniques are directed towards understanding the role of macromolecular interactions in cellular function. It is now clear that membrane lipids and membrane proteins are functionally involved in all aspects of the regulation of cellular processes and that these processes must be studied at the level of macromolecular function. "David was very dedicated to his research and was well recognized for his accomplishments," said Elliot L. Elson, Ph.D., professor of biochemistry and molecular biophysics. "He was committed to his role as a scientist; his work was thoughtful, critical and innovative. He was an excellent colleague and friend and also a generous and supportive teacher in both the classroom and the laboratory.”   David was born in 1936 in Cambridge, Mass. and lived in the Boston area. He studied biochemical sciences at Harvard College, where he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa and graduated magna cum laude in 1958. He received a medical degree from Harvard Medical School in 1962 and moved to St. Louis to complete his internship and residency in ward medicine at Barnes Hospital. David met and married pathologist Shirley Wang, M.D., during his internship in St. Louis. He spent two years as a research associate in the Laboratory of Molecular Biology at the NIH in Bethesda, MD.   David came to back to Washington University as an American Cancer Society postdoctoral fellow in 1966 and joined the faculty in 1968. He was promoted to associate professor in 1973 and to professor in 1977. David participated in the graduate programs of Biochemistry, Molecular Biophysics and Molecular Cell Biology. He was devoted to teaching both medical students and graduate students and played a leading role in organizing and presenting the biochemistry curriculum until his death from cancer in 1997.