The Seattle Biomedical Research Institute will pay volunteers as much as $4,000 to be bitten by mosquitoes infected with malaria in order to help them test the effectiveness of vaccine candidates.

The Seattle Biomedical Research Institute and the PATH Malaria Vaccine Initiative are collaborating to build a Human Challenge Center at SBRI to test new interventions against the deadly malaria parasite.

“We’re particularly excited by the center’s location in Seattle, a community where many people have an interest in global health issues and, as a result, are willing to volunteer for such an important cause – to help save the lives of young children in some of the world’s poorest countries,” Dr. Christian Loucq, Malaria Vaccine Initiative director said in a statement Wednesday, according to the Seattle Times.

Seattle volunteers will hold a paper cup containing infected mosquitoes against their arm, waiting for the insects to bite. Symptoms usually develop within nine to 11 days, and volunteers will be treated for malaria when the first parasites show up in their blood. The treatments last for three days.

Scientists say no lives are in danger because the volunteers can be cured. The institute is testing which vaccines work fastest.

The head of the program, Dr. Patrick Duffy, says volunteers will spend several nights under medical supervision in a hotel. He also added that volunteers could leave their room during the day because treatment for the virus would begin before it becomes contagious.

“The form that makes people sick develops early. We'll be treating this early before the form that can be transmitted is developed,” Duffy said.

The Food and Drug Administration will review all of the human trials for safety.

Malaria kills more than one million people each year, mostly in the developing world, according to the World Health Organization.