The present invention provides for a method of evaluating whether a compound is effective in activating a calcium-calmodulin dependent kinase IIα promoter in a human neuronal cell which comprises: (a) contacting the human neuronal cell which has been stably transformed by a recombinant nucleic acid molecule comprising a gene of interest operatively linked to a nucleic acid encoding a calcium-calmodulin dependent kinase IIα promoter which has a nucleotide sequence of the promoter in ATCC Accession No. 98582 with the compound, and (b) comparing the expression level of the gene of interest in the neuronal cell in step (a) with the level in the neuronal cell in the absence of the compound, thereby determining whether the compound is effective in activating the calcium-calmodulin dependent kinase IIα promoter.
