Limerick-based biohacker sheds light on his unconventional job and curious hand implants

IMAGINE unlocking your front door with a wave of your hand or having your medical records at hand, literally, at any given time.

For most, this sounds like science fiction. But for Limerick-based biohacker Denis Canty, it’s just another day.

In an age where technology is an extension of ourselves, Denis has taken it a step further.

Embedded beneath the skin of his hands are two tiny microchips, around the size of a grain of rice, used to store medical information and even rid the use of keys in his home!

“It’s very much a personal journey,” the Macroom man from Co Cork said.

“The technology in my left hand is very similar to contactless payment. In my left, it stores my medical information.

“I’m a scuba diver, so if I was scuba diving and something went wrong and I didn’t have any identification, it’s useful.

“I use both of them every day. I use the one in my right hand to unlock smart locks in my house.”

Denis, who lives with his wife and children in Castletroy since moving to Limerick permanently in 2013, recently graduated with a degree in economics from the University of Limerick (UL).

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He works as a consultant for international companies on their use of artificial intelligence (AI) software and advises on data collection and implementation.

He also lends a hand (pardon the pun) to up-and-coming tech professionals in the education sector and often speaks at conferences, sharing his expertise and personal knowledge on the complex nature of biohacking.

A tech man by trade, and by passion, Denis was “always fascinated” by it and how we, as humans, tap into the world of technology since he was a teenager.

He studied electronics in CIT in Cork after school.

“As I was growing up, I was fascinated by technology and there weren’t as many STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) initiatives.

“I remember being 16 and thinking about whether there were opportunities in technology from a career perspective. I was very lucky that a teacher I had in 4th year had a passion for music, science and electronics.

“He had a lot of equipment and things at the back of one of our school labs and that was where my journey started.

“I was always interested in how technology used to be far away from us, like we used to go to a computer, connect to a modem to get to the internet. But now, we have it in our pockets and on our wrists.

“It’s getting closer and closer to us in a physical perspective.”

Biohacking is essentially a fusion of biology and technology.

For biohackers, including Denis, their job consists of making incremental lifestyle changes to improve well-being so that we, as humans, can tailor our lives to meet our individual needs.

For example, we can improve brain function by analysing sleep, or improve our health and fitness by learning when the best time to exercise is or adjusting our eating patterns.

These are all things Denis experiments with round the clock, prior to collecting data and sharing his findings.

To do this, Denis uses devices such as smart watches and other external, outer body forms.

“People would be more familiar with smart watches, which are on body data access points, than internal implants. I also have the Apple watch, the WHOOP, the aura strap.

“Essentially, I’m getting 27 individual metrics including hydration, body fat, heart rate and sleep daily and 3,000 measurements per day.

“I use software to correlate and analyse these and figure out the impacts of certain eating or sleeping habits on everyday performance to improve life, in general.

“As a dad myself, I think it’s important to share this information and create opportunities for the younger generation.”

Denis is more than just a man with a passion for science and technology, with two unconventional implants in his left and right hands.

While they are a tool of convenience for him to unlock doors in his home and store medical information, the implants, that he got surgically inserted in 2018, do not define him or his profession, but are simply an addition to his life.

“The implants are just one part of my journey. It is important to note that this is just one part of biohacking.

“I’ve been at this career for over 20 years and have seen upsides to technology but there's also potential downsides that need to be carefully managed and controlled.

“A good example is that of smartphones - when they were created, nobody considered cyber bullying, or screen addiction.

“A lot of what I'm doing here is like trying get ahead of some of the potential downsides to futuristic technology.”

There are approximately 60,000 people worldwide who have had microchip implants embedded into their bodies. Being the first person in Ireland to donate part of himself to science, Denis hopes that he can act as a vessel for the greater good and get a glimpse into the future.

Using his own body as a living experiment to push the boundaries of human potential by using internal microchips in his hands to collect data, Denis becomes both the subject and the tool of discovery.

As an individual willing to merge biology with technology for the greater good and to contribute to a larger conversation about the future of humanity, Denis concluded by saying that ultimately, the future is unclear and that it is likely, changeable.