We have performed femtosecond laser-induced nucleation of protein in agarose gel to study the crystallization dynamics. The use of agarose gel facilitates the monitoring of laser-induced crystallization from the focal point, because the gel forms a highly viscous solution at low supersaturation and thereby suppresses the diffusion of laser-induced bubbles and microcrystals. We succeeded in monitoring the crystallization process from the focal point in the time range from microseconds to days. In addition, by combining an agarose gel system with fluorescence imaging, we revealed that the shrinking of laser-induced cavitation bubbles causes a local increase of protein concentration, which could be the trigger for protein nucleation. (c) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.