A direct immunosensor has been developed using an acoustic wave device as a transducer. The device is based on an acoustic waveguide geometry that supports a Love wave. The biorecognition surface, formed on a gold layer, consisted of a biotinylated supported lipid layer which specifically bound streptavidin and, subsequently, biotinylated goat IgG. The modified surface was used as a model immunosensor and successfully detected rabbit anti-goat IgG in the concn. range 3*10-8-10-6 M. Using the anti-goat IgG binding isotherm and the time-resolved measurements of antibody binding, both the binding and rate consts. of the reaction were detd. The specificity of each binding step was studied with the acoustic wave device, and it was concluded that the phospholipid bilayer showed a good suppression of nonspecific binding. Comparative measurements using surface plasmon resonance allowed the response of the immunosensor to be quant. correlated with mass binding to the surface. [on SciFinder (R)]