Whether it means taking a new drug, giving blood or simply answering a survey, students volunteer their bodies - all in the name of science.
Students participate as subjects in research studies in areas ranging from dermatology to gerontology to psychology - usually in response to advertisements and for money.
"Students would most often be 'normal controls' or 'normal volunteers' (in medical studies)," said Eric Thurston, research associate in the General Clinical Research Center. Therefore, these volunteers are enrolled in the study not "because they have a specific disease or disorder, but to improve the validity of the study."
Internal medicine Prof. Neil Alexander, assistant research scientist in the Institute of Gerontology, said he performs studies that look at young adults and older adults and compares how long it takes them to perform a task, how the body joints move, and the strength needed to carry out a response.
"We really want to know what healthy people can do," Alexander said. Students may be asked to do anything from getting out of a chair to moving around an obstacle.
However, researchers emphasized they are not specifically targeting students to participate in their studies.
"It's not a question that we're going after students," said internal medicine Prof. Alvin Schmaier, director of the University Hospital Coagulation Laboratory.
Dermatology Lecturer Michael Goldfarb agreed.
"I never specifically look for students for studies," he said. "I see no advantages or disadvantages to using a student rather than someone else."
He said students usually become subjects in his studies simply because they are a segment of the population that has a condition that he treats - acne.
But while Pharmacy Prof. Sally Guthrie said she does not specifically target students, she pointed out that using students can have its advantages.
"Students are actually fairly good to study because, for the most part, students are fairly intelligent (so they understand the research)," she said. "I really prefer to actually have people who understand what I'm doing."
Guthrie, who usually tests drug interactions, said that when subjects have an understanding of the purpose of the study, they are more likely to trust the researcher.
Researchers said student participation in studies varies. Goldfarb, who usually tests medications for skin conditions, said students volunteer for his studies "pretty frequently." Schmaier, who uses students to donate blood for his research on plasma proteins and platelets, said student participation is at about 20-30 percent.
Besides participating in medical studies, students also act as volunteers in studies conducted by the psychology department. As part of the requirement for introductory psychology courses, students are given the option of participating in five hours' worth of studies or writing a paper.
Brian DeSmet, an LSA sophomore, said he participated in a study that tested how well students knew general-knowledge questions and how certain they were that their answers were correct. These results were then compared to those of students in other countries.
"I guess it was to measure almost how cocky students were from each country," he said. "Doing the actual experiment wasn't too bad."
LSA sophomore Mark Bieszki said he liked participating as a research subject.
"I thought it was interesting to see how they conduct the research," he said.
He also said the researchers debriefed the students well to make sure they understood the intent of the study. "I got something out of it. It's not just like I was doing it blindly," he said.
LSA sophomore Steven Munger, though, said he did not enjoy his experience.
"I think a lot of the experiments we do are crazy. They're unreasonable," Munger said.
Prof. James Hilton, undergraduate chair of psychology, said exposing students to research techniques is one of the reasons for including the research subject requirement in introductory psychology courses.
"Most students come into an introductory psychology course believing that psychology is a nonscientific discipline concerned exclusively with helping," Hilton said. "While psychology's mission to help is important, an equally important side of psychology is the side devoted to theory and research."