diff --git a/src/backend/app/s3.py b/src/backend/app/s3.py
index 13a59036..49b120a2 100644
--- a/src/backend/app/s3.py
+++ b/src/backend/app/s3.py
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@
 from loguru import logger as log
 from minio import Minio
 from io import BytesIO
+from typing import Any
 
 
 def s3_client():
@@ -46,20 +47,43 @@ def add_file_to_bucket(bucket_name: str, file_path: str, s3_path: str):
         file_path (str): The path to the file on the local filesystem.
         s3_path (str): The path in the S3 bucket where the file will be stored.
     """
+    # Ensure s3_path starts with a forward slash
+    if not s3_path.startswith("/"):
+        s3_path = f"/{s3_path}"
+
     client = s3_client()
     client.fput_object(bucket_name, file_path, s3_path)
 
 
-def add_obj_to_bucket(bucket_name: str, file_obj: BytesIO, s3_path: str):
+def add_obj_to_bucket(
+    bucket_name: str,
+    file_obj: BytesIO,
+    s3_path: str,
+    content_type: str = "application/octet-stream",
+    **kwargs: dict[str, Any],
+):
     """Upload a BytesIO object to an S3 bucket.
 
     Args:
         bucket_name (str): The name of the S3 bucket.
         file_obj (BytesIO): A BytesIO object containing the data to be uploaded.
         s3_path (str): The path in the S3 bucket where the data will be stored.
+        content_type (str, optional): The content type of the uploaded file.
+            Default application/octet-stream.
+        kwargs (dict[str, Any]): Any other arguments to pass to client.put_object.
+
     """
+    # Strip "/" from start of s3_path (not required by put_object)
+    if s3_path.startswith("/"):
+        s3_path = s3_path.lstrip("/")
+
     client = s3_client()
-    result = client.put_object(bucket_name, file_obj, s3_path)
+    # Set BytesIO object to start, prior to .read()
+    file_obj.seek(0)
+
+    result = client.put_object(
+        bucket_name, s3_path, file_obj, file_obj.getbuffer().nbytes, **kwargs
+    )
     log.debug(
         f"Created {result.object_name} object; etag: {result.etag}, "
         f"version-id: {result.version_id}"
@@ -75,6 +99,10 @@ def get_file_from_bucket(bucket_name: str, s3_path: str, file_path: str):
         file_path (str): The path on the local filesystem where the S3
             file will be saved.
     """
+    # Ensure s3_path starts with a forward slash
+    if not s3_path.startswith("/"):
+        s3_path = f"/{s3_path}"
+
     client = s3_client()
     client.fget_object(bucket_name, s3_path, file_path)
 
@@ -89,10 +117,19 @@ def get_obj_from_bucket(bucket_name: str, s3_path: str) -> BytesIO:
     Returns:
         BytesIO: A BytesIO object containing the content of the downloaded S3 object.
     """
+    # Ensure s3_path starts with a forward slash
+    if not s3_path.startswith("/"):
+        s3_path = f"/{s3_path}"
+
     client = s3_client()
+    response = None
     try:
         response = client.get_object(bucket_name, s3_path)
         return BytesIO(response.read())
+    except Exception as e:
+        log.warning(f"Failed attempted download from S3 path: {s3_path}")
+        raise ValueError(str(e)) from e
     finally:
-        response.close()
-        response.release_conn()
+        if response:
+            response.close()
+            response.release_conn()