Thank you for the submission, please address the following comments:
- The inclusion criteria are well-described. Were there any additional exclusion criteria considered. It is noted that a number of potential participants were not deemed eligible.
- The discussion is nicely detailed, presenting identified challenges (e.g., oral mucosa site of sampling for the index test). A table presenting challenges and future plans for addressing those might be an informative addition to the manuscript.
- Please add a succinct, concluding paragraph after the limitations of the study.
- One of the aims of this study was to investigate "the set-up (or a range of set-ups) of the DEPtech 3DEP analyser"; however, there is very little mentioned in the discussion on this point - there are a couple of brief considerations. Please add a couple of succinct sentences, with the appropriate references as needed.