Who would have thought? My neighborhood, Davis Square in Somerville, is best known for the delicious BBQ of RedBones and the very cool Somerville theater. But did you know there’s a stem cell research institute there?

The Bedford Stem Cell Research Foundation has for the past few years been recruiting women as egg donors for their experiments (see this Science article). They’re trying to derive stem cells from unfertilized eggs.

Now they are part of a new initiative, the Life Sciences Collaborative, formed by Somerville’s mayor to try to build a life sciences industry in the city. Slummerville no more? The members of the group, including Tufts, met for the first time last month. The city has seen its neighbor, Cambridge, boom with biotech and research and it apparently wants a piece of the action. It’s already managed to convince Biogen to open up a facility in Somerville.

I don’t know every corner of Somerville very well, but I get the impression the new development in the city is mainly in condos, not new office buildings or lab space, so I’m not sure where any new research labs would go. And it will have to compete with the Cambridge cachet. But if Somerville can offer nice space at lower prices, then maybe they have a chance. Still, I hope quaint Davis Square doesn’t turn into anything too corporate like Kendall. Eek!