diff --git a/poetry.lock b/poetry.lock
index 64271a728..719f69c94 100644
--- a/poetry.lock
+++ b/poetry.lock
@@ -865,13 +865,13 @@ test-randomorder = ["pytest-randomly"]
 
 [[package]]
 name = "dcicutils"
-version = "8.7.1.1b3"
+version = "8.7.1.1b4"
 description = "Utility package for interacting with the 4DN Data Portal and other 4DN resources"
 optional = false
 python-versions = ">=3.8,<3.12"
 files = [
-    {file = "dcicutils-8.7.1.1b3-py3-none-any.whl", hash = "sha256:d0abae384c9a68fff268a7d7c45911d1ffd8ca2ae7a5ca51d8b50075ccfc40a7"},
-    {file = "dcicutils-8.7.1.1b3.tar.gz", hash = "sha256:d6ce6bafd47b2833b716064e94b7954e6b80425ba8777b4fa7b4e6c403f16cee"},
+    {file = "dcicutils-8.7.1.1b4-py3-none-any.whl", hash = "sha256:907e51bd3969adf24a778964904474ece4850b45932b9924ed0a98d5f3d11b42"},
+    {file = "dcicutils-8.7.1.1b4.tar.gz", hash = "sha256:49d5234e811d295977e51075718bab3fd82f1fac180be074e453ba01ec331f9c"},
 ]
 
 [package.dependencies]
@@ -3275,4 +3275,4 @@ test = ["zope.testing"]
 [metadata]
 lock-version = "2.0"
 python-versions = ">=3.8.1,<3.12"
-content-hash = "d8be07912abc1e18f75e7b4353d91408d2db405f19a6dfe5038c113865841b5b"
+content-hash = "b96567e1df0d4a350a30e38c89dd90072957971fb7ab0ba5f2c1d143a9dad206"
diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index 84118b73e..fe535b524 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 [tool.poetry]
 name = "dcicsnovault"
-version = "11.9.0.1b3"  # TODO: To become 11.10.0
+version = "11.9.0.1b4"  # TODO: To become 11.10.0
 description = "Storage support for 4DN Data Portals."
 authors = ["4DN-DCIC Team <support@4dnucleome.org>"]
 license = "MIT"
@@ -43,7 +43,7 @@ boto3 = ">=1.28.62"  # no particular version required, but this speeds up search
 botocore = ">=1.31.62"  # no particular version required, but this speeds up search
 elasticsearch = "7.13.4"  # versions >= 7.14.0 lock out AWS ES
 elasticsearch_dsl = "^7.4.0"
-dcicutils = "^8.7.1.1b3"
+dcicutils = "^8.7.1.1b4"
 future = ">=0.15.2,<1"
 html5lib = ">=1.1"  # experimental, should be OK now that we're not using moto server
 humanfriendly = "^1.44.9"
diff --git a/snovault/loadxl.py b/snovault/loadxl.py
index b3f2fd09d..6380fdccc 100644
--- a/snovault/loadxl.py
+++ b/snovault/loadxl.py
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@
 import re
 import structlog
 import traceback
-from typing import List, Optional, Union
+from typing import List, Optional, Tuple, Union
 from webtest import TestApp
 from webtest.response import TestResponse as TestAppResponse
 import uuid
@@ -19,6 +19,7 @@
 from pyramid.response import Response
 from pyramid.router import Router
 from pyramid.view import view_config
+from dcicutils.data_readers import RowReader
 from dcicutils.misc_utils import ignored, environ_bool, to_camel_case, VirtualApp
 from dcicutils.secrets_utils import assume_identity
 from snovault.util import debug_log
@@ -389,6 +390,17 @@ def get_response_uuid(response: TestAppResponse) -> Optional[str]:
     return response.json.get("uuid") or response.json.get("@graph", [{}])[0].get("uuid")
 
 
+def normalize_deleted_properties(data: dict) -> Tuple[dict, List[str]]:
+    normalized_data = {}
+    deleted_properties = []
+    for property_name, property_value in data.items():
+        if property_value == RowReader.CELL_DELETION_SENTINEL:
+            deleted_properties.append(property_name)
+        else:
+            normalized_data[property_name] = property_value
+    return normalized_data, deleted_properties
+
+
 def load_all_gen(testapp, inserts, docsdir, overwrite=True, itype=None, from_json=False,
                  patch_only=False, post_only=False, skip_types=None, validate_only=False,
                  continue_on_exception: bool = False, verbose=False):
@@ -572,6 +584,7 @@ def get_schema_info(type_name: str) -> (list, list):
                         filename = ""
                     yield str.encode(f'SKIP: {identifying_value}{" " + a_type if verbose else ""}{filename}\n')
                 else:
+                    an_item, _ = normalize_deleted_properties(an_item)
                     if post_only:
                         to_post = an_item
                     else:
@@ -643,7 +656,10 @@ def get_schema_info(type_name: str) -> (list, list):
                 identifying_path = get_identifying_path(an_item, a_type, identifying_properties)
                 if not identifying_path:
                     raise Exception("Item has no uuid nor any other identifying property; cannot PATCH.")
-                res = testapp.patch_json(identifying_path, an_item)
+                normalized_item, deleted_properties = normalize_deleted_properties(an_item)
+                if deleted_properties:
+                    identifying_path += f"?delete_fields={','.join(deleted_properties)}"
+                res = testapp.patch_json(identifying_path, normalized_item)
                 assert res.status_code == 200
                 patched += 1
                 # yield bytes to work with Response.app_iter