Solving problems, from brain chemistry to Boat Race: Carina Graf

by Mark Taylor

Problem solving appears to lie at the heart of most things to which Carina Graf is committed.

Be it academics or sport, there is an underlying theme about the Emmanuel College student’s motivation that ties them all neatly together.

Graf is in her fourth year of trialling with CUBC. After being in two victorious Blue boats, and having won once with reserve crew Blondie, she is also in the final year of her PhD in clinical neuroscience. By training, she is a physicist. Her undergraduate degree and master’s were in medical physics, which, in simple terms, uses physical principles to help medicine. A large part of it is in diagnostic imaging; Graf works in magnetic resonance imaging.

“I use a special technique that is called magnetic resonance spectroscopy which is actually a chemical fingerprint that we can get from the body, for instance from the brain, and we can do it non-invasively so we can look at the brain chemistry without having to stick needles into people. It is really promising,” she explains.

“One of the biggest projects I’ve been involved in was a study between Oxford and Cambridge where we looked at the brain chemistry in people that were hospitalised for Covid. We actually think we see some markers of inflammation in the brain that we were able to measure even a couple of weeks and months after they were released from hospital.”

“I think it is amazing that we can use such basic principles, a basic physical principle such as spin and then scale it up and make it useful and applicable to even say the Covid pandemic; I think that is really cool. That is what makes science nowadays so exciting, that we have all the interdisciplinary fields that are developing and are just generating so much additional knowledge that we didn’t know that we had before.”

As Graf, who was awarded a W.D. Armstrong Fund studentship, talks in fascinating detail about her studies, you also understand how they interweave with rowing. A lot of her work is either computational or data analysis, so is largely desk based and in a stationary position. That’s why being out on the water offers a release.

“I find it really soothing and mentally helpful to be in the boat every now and then which really unplugs you,” she says. “You are in the boat with eight other people and get to spend some quality time with some really close friends. You don’t have your phone on you, and you do it together. You form such close relationships with these people that you can then take off the water as well. You know that they will be there for you through the highs and lows that are a PhD.”

Having understood the connection between Graf’s two main focuses in Cambridge, it is when you bring in the third that it all starts to become much more joined up.

By the time she first picked up an oar during her MSc in Vancouver, she was already making the most of the landscape and rugged environment through rock climbing, and although it may not appear obvious, there are apparently plenty of similarities between the two sports.

“Rock climbing is all about problem solving which is such a great thing for a scientist as well,” says Graf. “I have enjoyed the problem-solving aspect of it which makes it so unique, but what also makes it really special, and why I think it ties into rowing, is there is no one size fits all approach.”

“In climbing, one person that has really long arms or is really tall might be able to solve a problem in one way but if you are a little bit shorter you might need to find a different solution. It is the same in rowing, especially with the boats that we have. Everyone is slightly different in terms of their body proportions but then ultimately, we still need to be able to row together with the same pattern, and that is what makes it so fun.”

“I’ve always really loved climbing, I really love rowing, and I’ve wanted to be a scientist for over a decade. Ultimately you need to find joy every single day and only then can you keep going.”

That comes from being part of CUBC, an environment that has allowed Graf to flourish. “I love it,” she says. “I love every single aspect of CUBC. The friendships are fantastic, the support is great, and the trust that we build in each other. Obviously, winning Boat Races isn’t a bad thing either.”