diff --git a/src/biocommons/seqrepo/fastadir/fastadir.py b/src/biocommons/seqrepo/fastadir/fastadir.py
index 1336a3c..aa330a8 100644
--- a/src/biocommons/seqrepo/fastadir/fastadir.py
+++ b/src/biocommons/seqrepo/fastadir/fastadir.py
@@ -190,7 +190,7 @@ def store(self, seq_id: str, seq: str) -> str:
         #       <------ dir_ ----->
         #       <----------- path ----------->
         if self._writing is None:
-            reldir = datetime.datetime.utcnow().strftime("%Y/%m%d/%H%M")
+            reldir = datetime.datetime.now(datetime.timezone.utc).strftime("%Y/%m%d/%H%M")
             basename = str(time.time()) + ".fa.bgz"
             relpath = os.path.join(reldir, basename)
 
diff --git a/src/biocommons/seqrepo/seqaliasdb/seqaliasdb.py b/src/biocommons/seqrepo/seqaliasdb/seqaliasdb.py
index 2a26ba8..5747b35 100644
--- a/src/biocommons/seqrepo/seqaliasdb/seqaliasdb.py
+++ b/src/biocommons/seqrepo/seqaliasdb/seqaliasdb.py
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
+import datetime
 import logging
 import sqlite3
 from importlib import resources
@@ -22,6 +23,9 @@
     raise ImportError(msg)
 
 
+sqlite3.register_converter("timestamp", lambda val: datetime.datetime.fromisoformat(val.decode()))
+
+
 class SeqAliasDB(object):
     """Implements a sqlite database of sequence aliases"""