The engineering and IT conglomerate Hitachi is poised to carry out what it hailed as the world’s first experiment to test for cancer using urine samples, which would greatly facilitate screening for the deadly disease.

The company had developed the basic technology to detect breast or colon cancer from urine samples two years ago. The technology detects waste materials inside urine samples that act as a “biomarker” — a naturally occurring substance by which a particular disease can be identified.

Hitachi will begin testing the method using some 250 urine samples, to see if samples at room temperature are suitable for analysis.

The experiment will start in April until through September in cooperation with Nagoya University. The aim is to put the technology in use in the 2020s, although this depends on various things such as getting approval from the authorities.