Current treatment options for epilepsy are inadequate, as too many patients 
suffer from uncontrolled seizures and from negative side effects of treatment. 
In addition to these clinical challenges, our scientific understanding of 
epilepsy is incomplete. Optogenetic and designer receptor technologies provide 
unprecedented and much needed specificity, allowing for spatial, temporal and 
cell type-selective modulation of neuronal circuits. Using such tools, it is now 
possible to begin to address some of the fundamental unanswered questions in 
epilepsy, to dissect epileptic neuronal circuits and to develop new intervention 
strategies. Such specificity of intervention also has the potential for direct 
therapeutic benefits, allowing healthy tissue and network functions to continue 
unaffected. In this Perspective, we discuss promising uses of these technologies 
for the study of seizures and epilepsy, as well as potential use of these 
strategies for clinical therapies.