Peer Review of Potential Use of Human Hair Shaft Keratin Peptide Signatures to Distinguish Gender and Ethnicity

The manuscript "Potential use of human hair shaft keratin peptide signatures to distinguish gender and ethnicity" received mixed feedback from peer reviewers. While the method proposed could be useful for human identification in forensic situations, significant revisions were needed to make it suitable for publication. The reviewers highlighted the outdated use of 2D gel electrophoresis, suggesting a shift to more modern techniques like liquid chromatography coupled with mass spectroscopy. Reviewer #1 was skeptical about the feasibility of publication without further experimental work, while Reviewer #2 was more optimistic, pending the authors' responses to the critiques. The editor, Simon Silver, provided additional comments and marked the manuscript for clarity, expressing the most encouragement among the reviewers but acknowledging the need for substantial improvements.