Kathryn Janeway and Chakotay in stasis units
Diagram showing internal components
A stasis chamber (also called a stasis unit, stasis pod, stasis tube, or bio-pod) is a coffin-shaped device used to preserve life in critically-injured or terminally-ill patients until their conditions can be stabilized in a fully-equipped medical facility.
The stasis unit suspends all cellular activity and disease processes, keeping the patient from succumbing to their illness or injury for an indefinite period. The device is not meant for saving a dead patient. Time is required to get the ailing patient into the unit before they succumb, presumably so that more time is available as they come out of stasis to effect proper treatment. (TOS: "Space Seed"; TNG: "Reunion") Stasis units have become standard equipment on Starfleet vessels, including the Template:ShipClass and Template:ShipClass starships.
The last of the Vaadwaur species placed themselves into underground stasis units, which they called bio-pods, in the 15th century to survive the destruction of their civilization. The pods malfunctioned, and so the Vaadwaur did not awaken until Seven of Nine activated the pods in 2376. (VOY: "Dragon's Teeth")
The subjects of a failed Cardassian experiment involving psychotropic drugs were left in stasis tubes aboard Empok Nor when the station was abandoned. The soldiers were accidentally reawakened when a salvage team from Deep Space 9 arrived in 2373. (DS9: "Empok Nor")
When Kathryn Janeway and Chakotay were infected with an insect-transmitted virus on a planet in the Delta Quadrant in 2372, the Doctor kept them in stasis chambers while he searched for a cure. After he was unsuccessful, the chambers were sent down to the planet so that the infection would not spread to the rest of the crew. (VOY: "Resolutions")
In late 2374, the entire crew of Voyager entered stasis units for protection, while Voyager crossed a Mutara class nebula that emitted lethal levels of subnucleonic radiation. Only the Doctor and Seven of Nine remained awake to operate the ship. (VOY: "One")
The crew of the USS Equinox modified a stasis chamber into a multiphasic chamber in the 2370s to first study, then exploit nucleogenic lifeforms. (VOY: "Equinox")
Lyndsay Ballard reported that after her death in 2374, she woke up in a stasis chamber surrounded by aliens, who had told her they had reanimated her body. (VOY: "Ashes to Ashes")