diff --git a/lib/galaxy/managers/base.py b/lib/galaxy/managers/base.py
index cc09af0059e..c5ea85ab5e9 100644
--- a/lib/galaxy/managers/base.py
+++ b/lib/galaxy/managers/base.py
@@ -46,6 +46,7 @@ from typing import (
 )
 
 import sqlalchemy
+from slugify import slugify
 from sqlalchemy.orm import Query
 from sqlalchemy.orm.scoping import scoped_session
 from typing_extensions import Protocol
@@ -1296,9 +1297,7 @@ def raise_filter_err(attr, op, val, msg):
 
 def is_valid_slug(slug):
     """Returns true if slug is valid."""
-
-    VALID_SLUG_RE = re.compile(r"^[^/:?#]+$")
-    return VALID_SLUG_RE.match(slug)
+    return slugify(slug, allow_unicode=True) == slug
 
 
 class SortableManager:
diff --git a/lib/galaxy/managers/sharable.py b/lib/galaxy/managers/sharable.py
index 9318dd2b559..cf7ff0a2a5c 100644
--- a/lib/galaxy/managers/sharable.py
+++ b/lib/galaxy/managers/sharable.py
@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@ from typing import (
     Type,
 )
 
+from slugify import slugify
 from sqlalchemy import (
     exists,
     false,
@@ -309,16 +310,6 @@ class SharableModelManager(
                 session.commit()
         return item
 
-    def _slugify(self, start_with):
-        # Replace whitespace with '-'
-        slug_base = re.sub(r"\s+", "-", start_with)
-        # Remove all /:?# characters.
-        slug_base = re.sub(r"[/:?#]", "", slug_base)
-        # Remove trailing '-'.
-        if slug_base.endswith("-"):
-            slug_base = slug_base[:-1]
-        return slug_base
-
     def _default_slug_base(self, item):
         # override in subclasses
         if hasattr(item, "title"):
@@ -334,7 +325,7 @@ class SharableModelManager(
 
         # Setup slug base.
         if cur_slug is None or cur_slug == "":
-            slug_base = self._slugify(self._default_slug_base(item))
+            slug_base = slugify(self._default_slug_base(item), allow_unicode=True)
         else:
             slug_base = cur_slug