Researchers at the University of North Carolina have partnered with health app maker Recovery Record to recruit more participants for a clinical trial to study how genes are connected to anorexia, according to a report from MedCityNews. The researchers head up the University's Anorexia Nervosa Genetics Initiative (ANGI).

Recovery Record currently has around 200,000 patient and physician users.

Cynthia Bulik, the director of UNC's Center of Excellence for Eating Disorders,  launched ANGI in 2013. ANGI's researchers aim to collect 25,000 blood samples, and they want 13,000 samples to come from people with anorexia.

So far, ANGI has recruited participants from conferences, advertisements on Craig's List, and Charlotte's Helix, a DNA genomics project in the UK. Participants from the trial receive a $25 Amazon giftcard.

On top of Recovery Record's user base, ANGI is interested in recruiting participants who are already users of the app because downloading such an app is an indication that they are already engaged in improving their health.

Recovery Record offers two versions of its app, one for patients and one for physicians. The patient version helps those struggling with anorexia track their meals, create meal plans, and log the moments they used their coping skills. The app also provides affirmations, charts that show the user's progress, and questionnaires. Patients can also connect with their physicians through the app.

The provider version lets physicians send coping skills and messages to patients. Physicians can also view the patient's progress and customize meal plans for them. While the app for patients is free, clinicians pay a subscription fee of $19.99, $49.99, or $79.99 depending on the number of patients they have.