 His work with poplar trees resulted in engineering of trees with improved pulping qualities.After his retirement as director of the Laboratory of Genetics at Ghent University, Marc Van Montagu created IPBO - International Plant Biotechnology Outreach, VIB-Ghent University, with the mission to foster biotechnological solutions to global agriculture.In 2015 IPBO launched the “Marc and Nora Van Montagu (MNVM) Fund” with focus on sustainable agriculture and agro-industry to the African continent.