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Ionising radiation is widely used in biomedical research. Such research is normally carried out in the laboratory and using different animal models. Research on normal tissue radiobiology aims at the investigation of the pathophysiological mechanisms and the consequences of ionising radiation. Pre-clinical in vivo studies in experimental animals largely focus on the characterisation of the pathophysiology of normal tissue reactions, the identification of potential biomarkers or the establishment of assays for predicting normal tissue toxicity of radiotherapy. Establishment of tumor xenograft models, involving implantation of human patient-derived tumors into immunodeficient animals, is a valuable research tool to investigate the biological effects of ionizing radiation on the disease mechanism of cancer.