【drug-news】实验室热门工作: 做新药受试者Guinea Pig
发布于 2007-06-15 · 浏览 2391 · IP 浙江浙江
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实验室热门工作: 做新药受试者Guinea Pig
Hot Lab Jobs: You Be the Guinea Pig
Posted by Scott Hensley
Science exerts a powerful tug on many college students. Some even go on to a life in research.
But in Boston, where more than 250,000 students attend college, the lure of a few dollars is enough to get scads of them to become lab rats and contribute to science in a very personal, if brief, way.
The Health Blog can now reveal that years ago we made some quick beer money answering obscure questions about the locations of buildings on campus for a psychology study. And we didn’t have any problems snoozing in the noisy tube of an MRI machine as a test subject for some wily physicists either.
But we were pikers, as we learned from an Associated Press report on the hot market in Boston for students as guinea pigs.
One Boston University senior has earned more than $3,000 in more than 30 medical studies. One assignment required that she view hardcore pornography intercut with nature images while the researchers measured her body’s response. “I’m not sure if it was academically credible, but hey, the more tortoises and porn that are involved, the better, because it was interesting,” she told the AP. “If it’s going to yield a hilarious story, it’s worth it. And the money is, of course, a perk. There’s no other time in my life when I can do this without being seen as a weirdo.”
A graduate student told the AP that his study of the “Cocktail Party Effect” wouldn’t be possible without the ample pool of cheap volunteers. In the cocktail-party study, students were paid a measly ten-spot to spend an hour in a soundproof booth listening to five-digit numbers in one ear and gibberish in the other. The study aims to find how people concentrate. “It’s amazing what they’ll do for 10 bucks,” he said of the volunteers. “I almost feel bad for them.”
A little college fun is one thing, but some of these test subjects actually turn pro. An article in Wired not long ago described the harrowing travails of drug test cowboys, one of whom has made more than $80,000 in pharmaceutical company tests.
另据FOX NEWS报道
大学生自愿做实验老鼠赚外快
College Students Becoming Lab Rats to Earn Cash
College students are known for finding creative ways to earn money, but few can compete with Boston University senior Allison Yochim — who once earned cash watching dueling images of sea turtles and hardcore pornography.
Yochim, a self-described "lab rat," says she has made more than $3,000 by participating in more than 30 medical studies at Boston's world-class research hospitals.
Researchers here can tap into a pool of about a quarter-million college students to find willing participants for scientific studies.
For some students, including Yochim, taking part can almost be a full-time summer job.
During one recent study on female sexuality, Yochim answered a survey of deeply personal questions. Then researchers measured her body's response while she watched a computer screen flashing a sequence of like nature images spliced with graphic sexual pictures.
"I'm not sure if it was academically credible, but hey, the more tortoises and porn that are involved, the better, because it was interesting," she said. "If it's going to yield a hilarious story, it's worth it. And the money is, of course, a perk. There's no other time in my life when I can do this without being seen as a weirdo."
Boston's subway cars and buses are plastered with advertisements soliciting volunteers for medical research. A glance through college newspapers or free weeklies reveals classified ads promoting studies on everything from HIV vaccine trials to cocaine addiction to restless legs and severe PMS.
"It's a win-win for college students and a win-win for the greater Boston area when these studies are ethically done," said Dr. I. James Hudson, a member of a board that supervises medical studies at Harvard's McLean Psychiatric Hospital. "We know how to do research here, so there's an assurance that the research will be done by some of the leading people in the world."
Hudson said many hospitals offer dozens of "pen and pad" studies that have few risks and requirements. The studies, often supervised by graduate students or staged over a few hours, are perfect for "psych 101 students" or students looking to earn quick cash.
There also are research projects that require volunteers with serious medical conditions like diabetes or schizophrenia. Others, like widely advertised sleep deprivation studies, pay thousands of dollars, but also force participants to stay many nights in the hospital for observation, Hudson said.
He said there are many federal guidelines regulating testing on humans and that all universities and research hospitals must establish review boards to make sure they are followed. Still, a glance through the ads does yield several bizarre experiments.
"There's a lot of marginal studies out there. There really are," Hudson said. "A lot of the things you see in scientific journals, you sometimes scratch your head. They either seem self evident or so obscure, you wonder why did they do this?"
Graduate student Scott Bressler said his university-funded study of the "Cocktail Party Effect" would be impossible without a supply of meagerly paid, college-student volunteers.
Participants earned $10 to spend one hour in a soundproof booth while wearing headphones that played a different voice into each ear: one repeating five digit sequences, the other garbling non sequitors and gibberish.
Bressler hopes the study will lead to a better understanding of how an individual focuses on a particular stimulus.
"It's amazing what they'll do for 10 bucks," he said of the volunteers. "I almost feel bad for them."
Rebecca Kazhdan, a 20-year-old Boston University junior from Hillsdale, N.J., said she was hard-up for money during her sophomore year when she saw an advertisement offering $50 for blood donors. The company, a clearinghouse that provides blood samples for medical research, called her back three more times this school year.
She said she spent most of her earnings on shopping.
"I guess, there a lot of medical places in Boston that need us," she said. "And, no one is willing to give up their time like college students."
Hot Lab Jobs: You Be the Guinea Pig
Posted by Scott Hensley
Science exerts a powerful tug on many college students. Some even go on to a life in research.
But in Boston, where more than 250,000 students attend college, the lure of a few dollars is enough to get scads of them to become lab rats and contribute to science in a very personal, if brief, way.
The Health Blog can now reveal that years ago we made some quick beer money answering obscure questions about the locations of buildings on campus for a psychology study. And we didn’t have any problems snoozing in the noisy tube of an MRI machine as a test subject for some wily physicists either.
But we were pikers, as we learned from an Associated Press report on the hot market in Boston for students as guinea pigs.
One Boston University senior has earned more than $3,000 in more than 30 medical studies. One assignment required that she view hardcore pornography intercut with nature images while the researchers measured her body’s response. “I’m not sure if it was academically credible, but hey, the more tortoises and porn that are involved, the better, because it was interesting,” she told the AP. “If it’s going to yield a hilarious story, it’s worth it. And the money is, of course, a perk. There’s no other time in my life when I can do this without being seen as a weirdo.”
A graduate student told the AP that his study of the “Cocktail Party Effect” wouldn’t be possible without the ample pool of cheap volunteers. In the cocktail-party study, students were paid a measly ten-spot to spend an hour in a soundproof booth listening to five-digit numbers in one ear and gibberish in the other. The study aims to find how people concentrate. “It’s amazing what they’ll do for 10 bucks,” he said of the volunteers. “I almost feel bad for them.”
A little college fun is one thing, but some of these test subjects actually turn pro. An article in Wired not long ago described the harrowing travails of drug test cowboys, one of whom has made more than $80,000 in pharmaceutical company tests.
另据FOX NEWS报道
大学生自愿做实验老鼠赚外快
College Students Becoming Lab Rats to Earn Cash
College students are known for finding creative ways to earn money, but few can compete with Boston University senior Allison Yochim — who once earned cash watching dueling images of sea turtles and hardcore pornography.
Yochim, a self-described "lab rat," says she has made more than $3,000 by participating in more than 30 medical studies at Boston's world-class research hospitals.
Researchers here can tap into a pool of about a quarter-million college students to find willing participants for scientific studies.
For some students, including Yochim, taking part can almost be a full-time summer job.
During one recent study on female sexuality, Yochim answered a survey of deeply personal questions. Then researchers measured her body's response while she watched a computer screen flashing a sequence of like nature images spliced with graphic sexual pictures.
"I'm not sure if it was academically credible, but hey, the more tortoises and porn that are involved, the better, because it was interesting," she said. "If it's going to yield a hilarious story, it's worth it. And the money is, of course, a perk. There's no other time in my life when I can do this without being seen as a weirdo."
Boston's subway cars and buses are plastered with advertisements soliciting volunteers for medical research. A glance through college newspapers or free weeklies reveals classified ads promoting studies on everything from HIV vaccine trials to cocaine addiction to restless legs and severe PMS.
"It's a win-win for college students and a win-win for the greater Boston area when these studies are ethically done," said Dr. I. James Hudson, a member of a board that supervises medical studies at Harvard's McLean Psychiatric Hospital. "We know how to do research here, so there's an assurance that the research will be done by some of the leading people in the world."
Hudson said many hospitals offer dozens of "pen and pad" studies that have few risks and requirements. The studies, often supervised by graduate students or staged over a few hours, are perfect for "psych 101 students" or students looking to earn quick cash.
There also are research projects that require volunteers with serious medical conditions like diabetes or schizophrenia. Others, like widely advertised sleep deprivation studies, pay thousands of dollars, but also force participants to stay many nights in the hospital for observation, Hudson said.
He said there are many federal guidelines regulating testing on humans and that all universities and research hospitals must establish review boards to make sure they are followed. Still, a glance through the ads does yield several bizarre experiments.
"There's a lot of marginal studies out there. There really are," Hudson said. "A lot of the things you see in scientific journals, you sometimes scratch your head. They either seem self evident or so obscure, you wonder why did they do this?"
Graduate student Scott Bressler said his university-funded study of the "Cocktail Party Effect" would be impossible without a supply of meagerly paid, college-student volunteers.
Participants earned $10 to spend one hour in a soundproof booth while wearing headphones that played a different voice into each ear: one repeating five digit sequences, the other garbling non sequitors and gibberish.
Bressler hopes the study will lead to a better understanding of how an individual focuses on a particular stimulus.
"It's amazing what they'll do for 10 bucks," he said of the volunteers. "I almost feel bad for them."
Rebecca Kazhdan, a 20-year-old Boston University junior from Hillsdale, N.J., said she was hard-up for money during her sophomore year when she saw an advertisement offering $50 for blood donors. The company, a clearinghouse that provides blood samples for medical research, called her back three more times this school year.
She said she spent most of her earnings on shopping.
"I guess, there a lot of medical places in Boston that need us," she said. "And, no one is willing to give up their time like college students."
最后编辑于 2007-06-15 · 浏览 2391
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