(FORTUNE Magazine) – The Riviera Theatre in Charleston, S.C., is an unlikely place to find the future of medicine. But that's where we found it in mid-May, at TEDMed2, an offshoot of Richard Saul Wurman's regular TED (technology, entertainment, and design) conferences. Speakers ranged from AARP executive director Horace Deets to evolutionary biologist Stephen Jay Gould to acting FDA commissioner Michael Friedman--all drawn to the theme of how technology can help us gain more control over our bodies as we age.

The 40-odd seminar-style presentations ran from a live "telemedical" satellite link with a scientific expedition on Mount Everest to disabled athlete Aimee Mullins showing off her carbon-graphite, "cheetah foot," prosthetic sprinting legs. The head of research for drug giant Novartis (one of the sponsors of the conference, along with Olympus) explained how, using mutated genes, his company has created a forgetful mouse that develops Alzheimer's disease in two years instead of the 50 the disease takes to progress in most humans. And a scientist for DARPA, the military agency that helped develop the Internet, described his efforts to counter bioterrorists who are making weapons-grade anthrax and aerosolized Ebola virus, as well as genetically modified pathogens.

Cutting-edge laser microscopes were hooked up to digital charge coupled device (CCD) cameras, developed by British-based Life Science Resources, that can optically slice through cells and reassemble them into 3-D images. Originally designed to peer at distant galaxies, CCD cameras can now track the cellular secretion of hormones and expression of proteins.

The conference also reverberated with laments about the Neolithic state of computer systems in health care and the absence of electronic medical records. "My auto mechanic makes better use of the Internet than my doctor," quipped Intel's health VP, Steven McGeady. The futurists here agreed that change will most likely come from activist patients, who are already flocking to new medical Websites to learn about the best treatments and clinics.

Yet TEDMed2 was perhaps best summed up by cabaret singer Baby Jane Dexter, when she belted out a heartfelt rendition of "Forever Young." That sentiment was certainly on the mind of AARP's Deets, who pointed out that more than half the people who have ever reached the age of 65 are alive today, and that this population will double within 50 years. And as Human Genome Sciences CEO William Haseltine noted, it may soon be possible to keep these people sprightly: Genetic mapping has advanced to the point where the once unthinkable has now become possible. "We have genes in our freezer," he revealed, "that make up every part of your body--and we can reconstitute them at will."

Haseltine's presentation was among the most eye-opening. With the instructions to make human beings in our hands, he believes we are on the cusp of an age of regenerative medicine. As we grow old the codes that instruct our tissues to replace themselves begin to degenerate, but if genes with the correct instructions could be placed into our bodies, perhaps aging could be forestalled.

Haseltine described recent clinical trials involving angiogenesis genes--which tell the body how to grow new blood vessels--that have been injected into the legs of "people walking around today who otherwise would be amputees." (At this, Boston Scientific co-chairman John Abele leaned over in his seat to tell FORTUNE that his company's tiny catheters were involved in some of these experiments.)

Looking out several decades, Haseltine imagines a time when medicine becomes invisible, as unobtrusive as a vaccine. Instead of transplanting organs, for instance, doctors may one day simply transplant their precursor seeds. "So as we grow," he mused, "we molt our bodies--theoretically forever." Curiously, he remained silent about the ethical dilemmas that will accompany these godlike abilities.

For all the stimulating notions generated at TEDMed2, it resembled a sparsely attended PC conference 20 years ago. "The interesting part of this conference is that no one wanted to come," said Wurman, who went on to announce it would not be repeated. Nobody ever said it pays to be ahead of your time.

--Erick Schonfeld