Methodology

Authors have used DMSO as a solvent for the 58 peptides but this might render these peptide capped gold nanoparticles not suitable for biological applications so I recommend excluding peptide sequences that are not water soluble and use only aqueous solution in the experiments to make results closer to reality

Strengths

This study has provided a first systematic review of the importance of peptide design on the stability of gold nanoparticles formulations. The design criteria have been clearly established to enable future researchers and scientists to make use of the study results. The combinatorial analysis also allowed the definition of criteria for peptides leading to the prediction of the peptide capped gold nanoparticles stability.

Weaknesses

This study has limited the evaluation of gold nanoparticles stability on their resistance to aggregation in aqueous saline solutions whilst not mentioned other options like zeta potential value studies to corroborate and confirm obtained results.

Major points

1. clear and universal methodological approach for the synthesis of stable peptide capped gold nanoparticles
2. The use of combinatorial approach to study a large number of peptide sequences added further value to the study

Minor points

1. diverse use of techniques to study peptide coupling such as gel electrophoresis and size exclusion chromatography

Data and Results

Strengths

The data are very well present in sectioned format which entitles easy follow-up for the study development and enables direct interpretation for

Weaknesses

Most of the figures lacked the standard deviations and error bars for the presented data.

Major points

1. The titles of the figure and table were very well presented and provide complete description of the result without need for getting back to the results section

Minor points

1. I recommend moving discussion of obtained results into the discussion and conclusion section 2.