In this study, wild type bovine odorant-binding proteins (wtbOBPs) were deposited by matrix-assisted pulsed laser evaporation (MAPLE) and utilized as active material on surface acoustic wave (SAW) biosensors. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), and atomic force microscopy (AFM) were used to determine the chemical, morphological characteristics of the protein thin films. The FTIR data demonstrates that the functional groups of wtbOBPs do not suffer significant changes in the MAPLE-deposited films when compared to the reference one. The topographical studies show that the homogeneity, density and the roughness of the coatings are related mainly to the laser parameters (fluence and number of pulses). SAW biosensor responses to different concentrations of R-(-)-1-octen-3-ol (octenol) and R-(-)-carvone (carvone) were evaluated. The obtained sensitivities, achieved through the optimization of deposition parameters, demonstrated that MAPLE is a promising deposition technique for SAW biosensor implementation. (C) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.