(Nature) – The emerging science — and industry — of animal longevity is attracting interest from companies and academics alike.

“It was maybe a somewhat different crowd of people than you see at the typical ageing conferences,” Gorbunova says.

The conference reflected a market reality: as the pursuit of increasing human longevity and healthspan has grown, fuelled by hefty investment, it only stands to reason that some of that interest would spill over to pets, says Cameron Hurlburt, a senior analyst at Ani VC, a venture-capital firm in Miami, Florida. The US pet- and animal-health market is estimated to be worth US$150 billion and could grow as more people in the United States purchase pet health insurance, he says. (Read More)